Tempus Frangit
by Hecate28
Summary: Set Post Series 16. The Lyell Centre Team are trying to pick up the pieces Post-Afghanistan. Attempting to find meaning where there is none is an inate human desire. But sometimes the truth isn't always the answer you are looking for. When a difficult case presents itself to the team, will they pull together or allow it to tear them apart?. Multi-Chaper fic.
1. Coping?

**Chapter 1: Coping?**

Jack inwardly groaned as he pulled his kit out of the back of his car. The crime scene had involved a body found in a car park and he had spent the last three hours crawling around on tarmac attempting to recover any forensic evidence that might help the police find out what happened. It was a cold, grey day and the drizzle had done nothing to improve his mood. In fact the mood of the entire Lyell Centre had been cold and grey ever since Leo had died. Jack had not realised just how much Leo had held the place together. Even though Jack had not worked at the lab for very long, without Leo, the place just felt so empty.

Leo had been a father figure to Nikki and an idol to Jack. But more than that, he had been a friend. A truly good and genuine man. Such a person was hard to come across these days, in a time where people would just walk on by and ignore all the bad things in the world. But Leo hadn't done that. He would always try to find the good in people. He's looked into Jack and discovered his potential even though Jack's face had been covered in cuts and bruises when they'd first met. Plenty of people had avoided Jack and scorned him, judging him on his appearance, just seeing him a brawny but Leo had seen past it and found the talented, headstrong scientist underneath.

But now he was gone. Jack knew of course that everyone had to die and that death was just a part of life. That was something reinforced every time he went to a crime scene, but this time something was different. This time death was not anonymous and striking at random, but personal. It had taken a good man. A great man, and possibly the only decent man Jack had ever known.

Pushing the glass doors open, he made his way down the winding corridors towards the lab. He knew he should start processing the evidence he had gathered but his heart just wasn't in it today. It hadn't been since the events of Afghanistan.

As he got closer to the lab, his ears picked up on the sound of voices, muffled at first but getting louder as he got closer. He could make out a male voice and a female voice, the latter he came to recognise as Nikki's clipped tones. The ones she used when she was trying to be professional. Something she had been forced to be, since taking over temporary leadership of the Lyell Centre.

Just as he was about to approach the lab, he noticed a young woman sitting in the waiting area by the doors. A small waif-like young woman, Jack estimated to be in her early twenties. She was staring at a magazine article, tapping the leg of the chair with the toe of her scuffed boots. It took a moment for Jack to realise that the magazine was upside down.

"Can I help you?" Jack said, shifting his heavy kit from one hand to the other, whilst scrunching and releasing his hand to relieve some of the cramp that had set in.

She looked up and Jack was met with a pair of blue bulbous eyes enclosed behind some thick framed glasses, which only served to enlarge her eyes, making her look quite bug like.

"No I'm fine. I'm just waiting to see my father," she said politely gazing up at him

"Is he…erm…?" Jack stuttered, trying to delicately frame the next question "Has he passed away?"

"I don't think so," the woman shook her head "Though it has been almost twenty minutes since I last saw him. All sorts of thing could happen in twenty minutes and I suppose it is possible he was cut down by an axe wielding maniac on his way to see Doctor Alexander, unless Doctor Alexander herself is the axe wielding maniac…" her sentence drifted off as she fell deep into thought.

Jack couldn't help but smirk at the thought of Nikki as an axe wielding manic. He realised then, that this was the first time he had smiled in weeks. The last time had been in Afghanistan, just before…

He steered his mind away from that thought. It was still too painful, too fresh and too real.

"Are you aware that you're holding your magazine upside down?" he asked her

She nodded "I'm reading an article about Australia," she offered as a way of an explanation

Jack was about to reply when the voices got louder and much closer. He glanced into the lab and saw a man carrying a mountain of files storm out of Leo's office, for they still referred to it as Leo's office, with Nikki following close behind.

"Mr Williams, please!" Nikki called after the man

"I knew it. You may mock my research Doctor Alexander but I know the truth. You can keep your scientific knowledge for it is tainted with the bias of the system. I shall publish my findings in 'The Underground' and the whole world shall know the truth!" the man replied, waving his arms about dramatically.

"Mr Williams if you would just come back and we can talk about this rationally," Nikki pleased and Jack could see she was near to breaking point.

Her usually neat blonde hair was falling out of the hairclips and the bags under her eyes were showing even in spite of her carefully applied make-up. She still looked attractive though, Jack smirked as he took a sneaky glimpse at her backside.

"My dear, your science is irrational. It cannot help serve justice when it is infected by the system. You must break free and until you do that you cannot help me. Come Molly," he called to the young woman "We're leaving,"

And with that he swept off down the corridor, clutching at his precariously balanced pile of files.

"I'm sorry," Molly smiled awkwardly at Nikki and Jack "Thanks for your help,"

"It's no problem," Nikki assured her "If there's anything else I can do, here's my card," Molly nodded her thanks as she took the card and stowed it away.

"MOLLY!" her father bellowed from down the corridor.

Molly smiled apologetically once more before hurrying off after her father. It was only after she had scurried off, that Jack had noticed she'd left her magazine behind. He called after her but she was long gone.

"What was that all about?" Jack said following Nikki into the lab

"Nothing really, just another conspiracy theorist," Nikki said supressing a yawn "How was your crime scene?" she asked him as he sat down at his desk, shrugging off his jacket.

Jack shrugged "Looks fairly straightforward. The car park was where the murder took place judging from the amount of blood found at the scene. I retrieved a fair amount of samples so I just have to analyse them. Police think it was just a pub-brawl taken too far," he informed her "How're you doing?"

"Busy as usual. I've done three post-mortems today but they are all open and shut cases. Nothing too complex but we do have another body scheduled to come in later this evening and I'm going to need you to help me take some samples,"

"That's not what I asked…" he said cautiously

"I know," Nikki said softly "I don't know how I feel Jack. I just don't know anymore,"

He nodded sympathetically "Guess that nutcase didn't really help matters?" he suggested and she made a murmur of agreement

"Nikki, the body you were waiting of has just been brought in, you just need to sign the relevant paperwork" Clarissa said entering the room

"Thanks," Nikki nodded moving towards the direction of the cutting room

"She's not coping," Clarissa said softly

"None of us are," Jack sighed "What was all that about with that guy earlier?"

"His name is Jonathan Williams. He wanted to meet with Nikki to discuss his wife's death. I don't know the full details nut I gather he was challenging his wife's cause of death. He appeared to think it was some type of cover-up," Clarissa told him "Nikki didn't seem to think that there was anything suspicious at all. She thinks his claims are unfounded and he's just trying to find meaning where there is none,"

Jack nodded before turning back to his kit and unpacking it "I found a fair amount of evidence at the scene. Police think it's a simple case but want us to try and get this analysed as soon as possible. They want to process this case quickly as it seems so simple. No point hanging about,"

Clarissa and Jack lapsed into an easy conversation as they sorted through his samples, settling in for a long night at the lab. The drizzle had turned into forceful rain which was rudely splattering at the windows, interrupting their gentle chatter.

In the cutting room Nikki was filling in the relevant paperwork. Her progress was impdeded as her loopy handwriting was smudged by the hot tears that streamed down her face.

**Author's Note: I know I haven't written anything in a while, but Series 16 seduced my muse into writing this. I'm still in shock Post Greater Love, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! (It as like bloodiness all over again). Series 16 was so great and it just shows how talented all the Silent Witness cast and crew are!.**

**The title of this story is taken from Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman' series. It is a pun on the Latin 'Tempus Fugit' (time flies) and it means 'Time Breaks'. Something I felt probably sums up how the characters were feeling at the end of the series.**

**Also, just a little disclaimer here. I don't own any rights to Silent Witness etc. **


	2. Jack's 'Special' Magazines

**Chapter 2: Jack's 'Special' Magazines**

"Anyway Clarissa and I went through the samples I recovered last night and the blood we found on the victim and the surrounding area does indeed belong to the victim himself. The murder weapon, the knife we recovered from the nearby shrubbery had some partial fingerprints on which we're running through the system now," Jack was informing the police officers of his findings of the dubbed 'car-park man' scene he'd attended yesterday

"You still believe the car park was the scene of the crime?" one of the officers asked

"No evidence to suggest to the contrary. Although it is important to note that he was stabbed in the north-east of the car park and was found in the south-west of the car park. Most likely he was moving to try to find help before the blood loss overwhelmed him,"

"Post-Mortem reports suggest blood loss due to the stab wound sustained in stomach, am I correct?" the officer asked

Jack flicked through Nikki's post-mortem report and nodded "That is correct," he said scanning the page

"Would it be possible to speak to the pathologist who wrote this, I need to clarify a few details?"

Jack paused carefully before answering "Doctor Alexander is in meetings for most of the day today but I will inform her of your request and get her to contact you as soon as she's free,"

The officer nodded and left the room. Jack let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. He wasn't in the habit of lying, he usually spoke his mind but when he'd seen Nikki enter the building a few hours earlier with an ashen face and puffy red eyes, he thought it best to cover for her today.

She'd taken it the hardest out of all three of them, which was natural given that she'd known Leo the longest but Jack was still worried. He still had Clarissa, but Nikki had lost Leo and Harry. The lab technicians had filled Jack in on the Nikki-Harry situation in the first few weeks Jack had worked there and he finally understood her animosity to him when he had first met her. Jack ran a hand across his jaw, making a mental note to keep an eye on her. Although she was his senior colleague and more than capable of looking after herself, she was his friend and he was worried about her.

"Jack, what on earth happened to your face?" he turned to see Clarissa wide-eyed as she entered the room

"Nothing," he said quickly, catching a glimpse of his reflection in the glass windows. His split lip had started to swell as it healed and the black-eye had, true to its name, started to get very black.

"You weren't cave-man fighting again?" she sighed

"It's called _cage_-fighting, MMA actually," Jack corrected "And I needed the release," Clarissa gave him a disapproving look but he knew she understood the underlying reason for the fighting even if she didn't entirely agree with it

Meanwhile Nikki was sat at her desk work through the mountain of paperwork that never seemed to decrease. Although she was temporary head of the Lyell Centre, she couldn't use the office supplied for that role. In her mind that was still Leo's office. Looking up in an attempt to stretch her neck, her attention was caught by a magazine on Jack's desk. She reached across and was briefly leafing through it when Jack re-entered the room

"DC Roberts wants to talk with you when you're ready," he informed her

"Who?" she said glancing up

"The Detective on the car park murder case," he explained "You did the post-mortem yesterday. Anyway he wants to clarify some things with you when you have a moment,"

"Okay," she nodded "Is this yours?" Nikki gestured to the magazine in her hands

Jack shook his head "That girl left it here yesterday. Molly, I think her name was. She was the daughter of that man, the conspiracy nut, you were talking to yesterday,"

"And she left it behind?"

"Yeah, when she ran after him. I figured I'd keep it in case she wanted it back, but she's not called or anything," Jack shrugged "You know Nikki, I have plenty of other special types of magazines at home if you want to read them," he smirked

Nikki grimaced "You're such a boy," she laughed. She actually laughed. For the first time since Leo died she laughed

"It's nice to see you smile," Jack said fondly

"It feels good to smile," she admitted

"Nikki, if you ever want to talk I am here you know. He wouldn't want you to be miserable. Neither Leo nor Harry would," Jack told her and watched as she visibly flinched at the two names.

"I know," she finally said, although Jack wasn't sure how genuine her response was. He knew the pain and grief was still raw "Thank you," she nodded before standing up

"Where're you going?"

"To phone DC Roberts," she said turning back to him "You should get an icepack for that eye," Nikki told him "It'll help with the swelling. And you should be more careful next time, taking blows to the head like that. You can't afford to lose any more brain cells," she said throwing the magazine she was holding at him as she exited the room.

**Author's Note: Slightly shorter chapter here, but the real action is coming soon. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, it is really appreciated and any feedback is most helpful. I also want to apologise for any grammatical errors, I do proof-read but errors do slip past from time to time. **


	3. I Know What You Did Last Friday

**Chapter Three: I Know What You Did Last Friday**

It was Friday night, the end of another working week. London bustled with people going out to clubs, partying the night aware. Drinks were being poured, drugs taken and people bumped up against each other in a noisy dark room in an attempt at dancing. However, for the Lyell Centre team, partying was the thing furthest from their minds. Clarissa, Jack and Nikki had all said a gloomy farewell to each other that evening after their respective shifts had ended. The empty promises to meet up and go for drinks long forgotten. The grief too fresh in their hearts to brave Friday night in London as the part atmosphere seemed to just mock their pain.

Nikki tossed and turned in bed that night. Sleep was elusive yet again and her restless slumber was plagued by nightmares. Or rather The Nightmare. It was only the one nightmare constantly replaying in her head, seeing Leo so full of life, then Leo moving away from them, telling her to stay back just before he…

The phone rang and Nikki started in fright. Groping for her phone, she swore as her hand knocked over the glass of water that had rested precariously on her bedside table and had now spilled its contents all over her duvet. She mumbled into the receiver as her brain tried to take in all the information about the crime scene she was being called to.

Pushing back the wet duvet she internally hissed as her feet touched the cold floor. Shuffling around her room, trying to find some clothes, she glanced over at her clock. The digits lowed back at her, almost mocking her lack of sleep.

1:31am

Nikki wasn't sure whether the nightmare was in her dreams or her waking life anymore, but she struggled on anyhow. Pulling a thick warm hoody over her head, her brain slowly slipped into pathologist mode. The mental gears in her mind were wiring over the details she had been given, the sorrow in her heart temporarily muted, but she knew it would be back. It always came back.

Jack slumped down in the changing rooms of the MMA gym he trained out. Spitting out his mouth guard he rested his head against the wall breathing in the smell of the gym; a pungent smell of sweat and rubber from the gloves and mouthpiece he wore for the fights. It was so familiar to him and oddly soothing.

He had won this time. Just. He raised his hand to his head and felt a warm sticky substance at his left temple. A quick glance in the mirror showed him the results of his pyric victory. A new laceration to add to his ever increasing collection. Still he had won that fight and that was all that mattered. He had shown the others how tough he was and he had gotten the release he was so craving. It was all he ever fought for. Nothing was going to change that.

Endorphins flowed through his body allowing the pent up anguish to be released. A sense of calm flowed through his body and for a moment he was at peace. The chemicals in his body were soothing the minor injuries he had sustained. The sorrow in his heart temporarily muted, but he knew it would be back. It always came back.

Clarissa pulled another heavy textbook towards her and softly sighed as she breathed in the scent as she breathed in the reassuring smell of the books. Scanning the pages, she attempted to take in the information she was reading. This was her safety zone; science was so familiar and comforting to her. In a world of chaos and uncertainty, science showed her there were patterns and meaning to even this most entropic of circumstances.

She froze as she turned over the page. It was about the Oak Processionary Moth, and Clarissa was immediately transported back to her first meeting with Leo. They had gotten off to a shaky start but had soon bonded. Both respected the other in terms of intellect and moral standing.

Clarissa pushed the book to one side. It was too painful right now. She turned to another textbook and immersed herself in its contents. The sorrow in her heart temporarily muted, but she knew it would be back. It always came back.

Nikki slowly drove up the dark country lane, thankful for glow of headlights from the entourage of emergency services vehicles that lay up ahead. As she was directed to the makeshift parking area she started to survey the scene.

From what she could mark out in the gloom she was on a winding country lane surround by fields and woodland. The air was damp with the smell of the rain that had fallen earlier and water pattered softly to the ground as it ran off the tree branches. A pungent mixture of wet earth and tarmac filled the air. A cow lowed gently, to the left of her and Nikki assumed some of the fields were owned by farmers. Agriculture felt so foreign to her and she wished Jack was there to help her. His time spent in Yorkshire had given him a fairly in-depth knowledge of farms and how to deal with farmers, although most of his anecdotes seemed to revolve around recollections of falling in mud and animal faeces.

She pulled her kit out of the boot of the car and attempted to get into the white forensic suit. It took three attempts before she managed to get her legs in the right holes and she cursed her lack of sleep for impairing her coordination. Nikki walked up to the cordon and flashed her badge at the office guarding the tape and was immediately directed to a smartly dressed woman whom Nikki assumed was the detective assigned to the case.

"DI Rachel Harris," the woman said extending her hand

"Doctor Nikki Alexander," Nikki nodded "Pathologist,"

"Sorry to have to call you out at this time. We think it's an open and shut case. Probably just a drunk that went too far tonight, there's a pub ten minutes down the road after all, but we have to follow protocols" Rachel shrugged as a way of apologising

"It's fine," Nikki said softly, shrugging off the detective's apology.

Attending a crime scene in the early hours of a wet and gloomy morning was better than trying to sleep. She could keep her mind focused this way. She didn't have to remember…

"I heard about Professor Dalton," Rachel said awkwardly as they walked up the road "I'm sorry. He was a good man and he'll be missed,"

Nikki nodded trying to swallow back her tears "The body?" she asked, changing the subject as she felt the tears well up in her eyes

Rachel nodded to an area where the woodland met the road "A local farmer came across him as he was coming down to check on one of his pregnant cows," the detective pointed over at the body.

Nikki moved over and crouched down before the corpse. The victim was a male, she estimated him to be in his late twenties. His wet brown hair was stuck against his forehead and his blue eyes stared back at her, although they would never see anything again. Examining it closely, she sighed as she came across a stab wound in the centre of the chest.

"What are you thinking so far?" Rachel asked, clearly eager for information

"I won't know anything conclusively until after the post-mortem," Nikki said giving the official pathologist line "But the stab wound seems consistent with a knife wound," she said examining the wound closer

"Do you think that's what killed him?"

"Possibly, though I won't know for certain until I open him up. But at this stage its certain a very strong possibility," Nikki replied as the Detective scribbled down the speculative information in a notebook "Do you know if anyone else apart from the farmer disturbed the scene?" Nikki asked suddenly

"Not that I know of," Rachel frowned "Why do you ask?"

Nikki moved the victim's arm slightly and pointed to the ground underneath him. Rachel crouched down next to her. On the ground lay a smooth piece of glass in a rut in the ground.

"That looks like a footprint to me," Nikki said pointing at the shallow rut

"What's the glass?" Rachel turned to Nikki who shrugged in response "I'd better get forensics down here. Looks like this one isn't as quite as simple as we thought,"

Nikki stood up and stretched her aching back as she smirked at the thought that Jack would soon be drawn out of his warm bed to join her in the damp morning. She was also, though she would never admit it, glad for the presence of his familiar company. However, her spirits were soon dampened when she skidded in the freshly deposited cow faeces that sporadically lined the lane.

"I knew you couldn't get enough of me," Jack grinned when he finally arrived "Is that why you dragged me out of bed to get me into a secluded wooded area so you could be alone with me. Doctor Alexander, I never took you for that type!"

Nikki could tell he'd been cage-fighting by the bruising on his face. She disapproved of course, as a Doctor, but she supposed everyone had to deal with grief in their own way. Goodness knows she'd spent many an evening staring down at the bottom of an empty wine bottle, so she wasn't going to judge.

"Very funny," Nikki said sarcastically "Can we get on, please?"

He mock saluted her as she led him towards the body. Jack noticed a not-unattractive suited woman standing by the corpse whom Jack assumed, and it was soon confirmed to him, was the detective on the case.

"Jack Hodgson," he introduced himself "Forensics,"

Nikki crouched down and pointed to a spot on the ground "This was where the body was before we removed it, but you can see a partial footprint on the floor there,"

Jack nodded "Good spot. The rain seems to have washed it away a little but there still seems to be enough of it there to retrieve some information," he said taking photographs "It looks small, possibly female by the size of it,"

"We also found this," Nikki said passing over the small piece of glass she had found which was now wrapped in an evidence bag to preserve it "We're not sure exactly what it is,"

"It's not clear glass," Jack said trying to peer through it "I would say it's almost like a lens of some sort. I can't tell what type exactly but I'll have a look at it when we get back to the lab, I might be able to get some trace evidence off it if we're lucky,"

"We could do with some of that," Rachel sighed "The sooner we get this wrapped up, the sooner we can all go back to bed. I bet you two have better things to be doing than spending your Friday nights at a crime scene,"

"We're used to it," Jack grinned "It's almost fun. Who needs alcohol when you have corpses and mysterious pieces of glass?"

"I think you've taken one too many blows to the head," Nikki quipped

A few hours later and Jack and Nikki had finished what they could at the crime scene and were heading back to their cars. As they got closer to the cordon, they could hear raised voices.

"I know that voice," Nikki frowned deep in thought and as they got closer she was able to fit a name to the voice "Jonathan Williams," she said suddenly noticing the man engaged in an angry conversation with an exasperated looking police officer.

"Who?" Jack quizzed

"The man who was at the lab the other day," she explained

"Oh, the conspiracy nut?" Jack asked and she nodded

"I wonder what he's doing here?" she said as passed the cordon.

"Who knows," Jack sighed "It's a full moon tonight," he said looking up "It must bring out the crazies, or maybe you attract them" he said and Nikki gave him a playful shove

"I'm telling you it's all linked. The lay lines that go across the forest floor," Jonathan was gesticulating wildly "I know what's going on. You police are too close minded to understand…"

He stepped back and bumped into Nikki who fell back onto the ground.

"Careful," Jack warned the man as he helped Nikki up. But the man just mumbled something about lay lines disturbing his sense of balance, which Nikki assumed to be an apology of sorts.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked Nikki once she had gotten to her feet

"Fine," she said checking herself over for any injuries and was pleased to find there were none

"Come on," he said, placing a hand on her back and guiding her towards their cars "I'll buy you breakfast and you can tell me how you managed to get cow dung on your suit," he grinned as she shot him mock scowl.

Neither of them noticed the lone figure standing at the edge of the woods, masked with the shadows that still lingered despite the early morning light. And neither of them noticed as that figure seemed to disappear back into the woodland without leaving any footprints on the marshy ground.

**Author's Note: Longer chapter to make up for the slightly longer chapter last time. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favourite this story. I hope you're enjoying it! By the way, I re-watched the Leo-Death scene in 'Greater Love' and cried all over again. I think Leo wasn't only a father figure to Nikki, but to all Silent Witness fans!**


	4. Something Wicked This Way Comes

**Chapter Four: Something Wicked this Way Comes**

Twenty minutes later and Nikki was sitting in a warm café with a full English breakfast in front of her. The doctor part of her was telling her to avoid the 'cardiac-arrest-on-a-plate' in front of her, but she was too cold, wet and hungry to care and so instead she started to wolf down the greasy food, something Jack found very amusing.

"So what are your thoughts so far?" Jack asked with a mouth full of baked-beans. Nikki pulled a face at his table manners but he just shrugged in response, and nodded towards the fried egg that adorned the plastic table-cloth after it had slid off Nikki's plate when she started eating.

She shook her head "I don't know so far. I imagine when I do the post-mortem the cause of death will be due to the stab wound. But the lack of defence wounds on the body gives me cause for concern. The stab wound was in the stomach, not the back, so he would have had ample opportunities to defend himself. In fact it would have been instinctive to do so, yet why didn't he?"

"There was a pub nearby wasn't there?" Jack said "Maybe he had too much to drink and he was too intoxicated to defend himself,"

Nikki sighed "Maybe you're right but there are no defence wounds at all. If we work from your hypothesis he must have been pretty intoxicated to not even fight back," she said scooping up a mouthful of baked beans

"A toxicology report might shed some light; maybe he'd taken some drugs as well?" Jack said

Nikki ran a hand through her hair "I wish Leo were here. He'd know what to do,"

"I know," Jack sympathised "But he's not and you are. Nikki, you're a great pathologist and you are more than capable of working this by yourself. You just need a bit more faith in yourself," she gave him a half-shrug in response "We have to move on Nikki. I know it's hard, but he's not coming back. He wouldn't want you to mope. If you want to honour his memory, then show everyone just how much he's taught you. In that way his legacy still lives on,"

Nikki nodded and took a sip of her coffee. She knew Jack was right; she just didn't want to admit it. Moving-on hurt so much. It always had done and she'd spent a lot of her life moving on. Whether it be from South-Africa, from her father, from her disastrous attempts at relationships and of course from Harry Cunningham. She thought she'd be used to it by now but the sting of change still took her by surprise, even now.

"Come on," Jack said, drawing her away from her thoughts "We should get back to the lab. Clarissa will be wondering where we go too,"

"Yeah," she said standing up with him "Thanks for the breakfast by the way," Nikki smiled softly

"No problem, I only did it so that you're forever in my debt," he joked

"Sure," Nikki laughed as he helped her into her coat "Just like you're forever in my debt since I saved you from having your oesophagus slit open,"

"Touché," Jack grinned as they walked out to their cars "We still need to go for that pizza by the way,"

"Do you ever stop thinking about food?" Nikki asked

"Not when it comes to pizza," he said "Seriously, who can say no to pizza?"

…

"I hope you two have been behaving yourselves," Clarissa said when Jack and Nikki eventually arrived at the lab

"Of course," Jack said with his trademark grin "What have you been up to?"

"Analysing the photograph of the footprint you gave me," Clarissa said as Jack sat down next to her

"I'm going to scrub up for the post-mortem," Nikki said leaving the two forensic experts alone

"How's she coping?" Clarissa asked when Nikki was out of earshot

"A little better I think," Jack said softly "I had a talk with her over breakfast which I hope helped,"

"I think we should still keep a close eye on her," Clarissa said reminding Jack of the agreement they had made after Leo's funeral

"Agreed," Jack nodded "So what have you got so far?" he said turning his attention back to the task at hand

"From what I can work out, the footprint belong to a size four shoe. I ran tread pattern against our database and it came back with trainers, specifically Converse trainers," she told him

Jack frowned "That doesn't help narrow it down too much. Everyone wears those trainers nowadays. What do you make of this," he said opening his kit and pulling out the mysterious piece of glass

Clarissa took it out of the evidence bag and examined it closely "Well, as I'm sure you've already worked out, it's a lens of some sort," she said peering through it "Judging from its size it could maybe belong to a magnifying glass or something,"

"Can you check it for fingerprints?" Jack asked and Clarissa nodded "Nikki, from her preliminary investigations, thinks there's something not adding up so we need all the evidence we can get,"

Nikki was currently elbow-deep in blood and guts performing a post-mortem on the corpse they had recovered that morning. DI Harris was watching from the viewing platform, looking slightly green as Nikki pulled out organ after organ.

"On examination of the stomach there is what appears to be a knife wound which correlates to the entry wound found on the abdomen," Nikki said emptying the contents into a plastic bowl "Stomach contents contains vast amount of alcohol, which would fit in with the hypothesis he was at the pub shortly before he was murdered,"

"Cause of death?" Rachel asked

"Blood loss from stab wound to the stomach," Nikki said snapping off her gloves "I'm still concerned though about the lack of defence wounds on the victim. I'm running a tox-screen on his bloods to see if there's anything that might explain why he didn't fight back,"

"How're we doing here?" Jack said entering the room and standing next to Rachel.

"Cause of death was as we thought," Nikki told him "But it is interesting to note that judging from the stab wound the attacker was smaller than the victim,"

"That's helpful," Rachel said making a note "Any progress on the mysterious piece of glass?" she asked Jack

"We're running it for fingerprints right now," he informed her "I'm heading back to the crime scene," Jack said "The forensic evidence we've recovered so far is too general to be of much use, I'm going to see if there's anything else,"

Nikki nodded "Have a look for the murder weapon whilst you're there," she said "It'll be something like a kitchen knife,"

"And here I was hoping it would be an open and shut case," Rachel sighed "Is there still a chance it was just a drunk who snuffed it after falling over or something?"

"Sorry," Nikki said and Rachel sighed. Just then the Detective's phone rang and she waved her apologies at Jack and Nikki before taking the call outside

"Glad to see the police are ready and willing to investigate as always," Jack quipped and Nikki smiled as she scribbled some notes down on a clipboard "Will you be okay if I head out for a couple of hours then?"

"I think I can manage without you for a bit," Nikki said rolling her eyes

"Attagirl," Jack grinned as he left the viewing room

...

A short drive later and Jack was back at the crime scene. Now it was daytime, he could get a better view of the scene. He had noted from the drive up, that he was in a fairly secluded area that seemed mostly to serve as farmland. At night-time is would be mostly deserted, making it the perfect place for a murder to happen.

Flashing his badge at the office guarding the cordon tape he clipped it back on to the bottom of his jacket as he made his way to where the body had been before. Crouching down, he once again examined the partial footprint on the ground. It was present in the marshy ground just before the grassland met the tarmac of the road. The rain would have meant no footprints would have been left on the road but if the attacker had walked through the woodland, there might be more prints leading up to the road. He started to make his way slowly into the woodland, being careful where he was treading, just in case he missed or disturbed any vital evidence.

After twenty minutes of walking what seemed like endless woodland, he paused to get his bearings. He was now in the middle of a clearing and it was very quiet apart from the gurgling of a river nearby. Suddenly, he felt something brush against his side but when he whirled around nobody was there. Shrugging it off as his imagination, he walked towards the river, crouching down to see if he could see the murder weapon. After all, the murky depths of the river were a good a place as any to dump a knife.

Suddenly, a small stone came skimming across the water towards him and he stepped back in shock as it bounded off his arm

"Sorry," a voice came and he glanced across the river to see a young woman on the other side "Did I hurt you?"

"No harm done," Jack assured her "Hang on, don't I know you?" he said taking in the woman's appearance. There was something very familiar about her.

"I was at your workplace a few days ago," she told him stepping onto a fallen log that connected the two side of the river "My name's Molly," she reminded him, walking slowly across the log arms outstretched as she tried to keep her balance

"I remember now," Jack nodded "What are you doing round here then?"

Molly was on his side of the riverbank "Oh I live just over there," she said vaguely gesturing "I was just going for a walk. I like to skim stones you see," she told him "Although semi-assaulting a forensic scientist is not usually part of the game,"

"I should hope not," Jack smiled "Hang on, how did you know I was a forensic scientist? I didn't mention it when we last met,"

"I found this you see," she said fishing something out of her pocket and passing it to him "I was going to give it to the grumpy looking police officer by the road,"

Jack looked down and saw his own face staring back at him. It was his ID badge, but he was sure he hadn't dropped it before. Yet when he looked down at his coat, the last place he remembered putting it, the badge was indeed missing.

"I loose things all the time," Molly told him "Apparently I've lost my marbles, but I don't remember owning any marble in the first place…" her sentence drifted off and she gazed up into the sky "I'm glad the sun's come out today, there was such awful rain yesterday," she smiled at him and for the first time Jack noticed she was sporting a black eye and that her glasses were held together where they rested on her nose with a some sellotape.

"What happened to your face?" Jack asked

"I could ask the same of you," she said gesturing to the bruises Jack had sustained from his previous fight

"I asked first," he said childishly

"Well I asked second and everyone knows that it's first the worst, second the best," she said with a small smile

"Ladies first?"

"That's sexist. Anyway I'm really no lady," she said looking down at her crumpled hoodie and ripped jeans

"Fine," he said holding up his hands in defeat "I got mine cage-fighting," Molly nodded seemingly satisfied with that response "And you?" he asked

"I fell over," she said vaguely

"Fair enough," Jack said seemingly unsatisfied with that response "So why aren't your hands scratched?"

"What?" she frowned

"If you fell over, you'd automatically put our your hands to break your fall," he said demonstrating "But your hands are uninjured,"

"Jack, let me give you some advice," Molly said, the dream like quality of her voice suddenly going "It is human nature to look for the truth, to seek meaning and to find answers. But such things can be very painful. The truth can be brutal; it hurts and makes us stare difficult things in the face long before we are ready to deal with them. Sometimes not knowing the truth is all that makes it okay sometimes. At other times, truth may not be the answer you are looking for at all,"

"I don't think I follow,"

Molly laughed softly, the sweetness in her voice had returned "Is finding the truth the same as finding a meaning?" she asked "For example you might you might find out the truth behind a crime scene that had been distorted to lead you to think it was one thing than another. An accidental staircase fall might turn out to be a lethal shove down some stairs. But even if you find that truth, do you know why the crime happened?"

"Not always," Jack admitted, it was indeed a frustrating aspect of his job having to witness the after-effects of seemingly senseless acts of violence

"Exactly," she nodded "The truth doesn't always give us an answer and the answer we are looking for isn't always the truth,"

"Very philosophical," he said and she shrugged in response making her way back across the stream

"Goodbye Jack Hodgson," she called to him "I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for,"

"Who said I'm looking for anything?"

"We're all looking for something," she told him, before skipping off back to where she came from

Jack shook his head, unable to fully comprehend the slightly bizarre encounter he had just had. A flash of silver in the river caught his eye and he crouched down. Pulling on a pair of gloves, he reached down towards it and sure enough tangled in the weeds by the bank was a knife matching Nikki's description. A small kitchen knife with remnants of blood Jack was certain would match that of the victim. Clearly, the attacker had come back this way to dump the knife yet when Jack searched the area further he could find no other evidence. The case seemed to get more complex the more they looked into it and the conversation with Molly only seemed to confuse him even more.

Maybe she was right, maybe finding out what happened wasn't going to give them all the answers they would need.

**Author's note: Once more, thanks to everyone who has reviewed this so far. It's really great to get some feedback. Any good theories so far or are you as bemused as our super forensic trio? **


	5. The Slug and Pellet

**Chapter Five: The Slug and Pellet**

Clarissa sat at her desk analysing the knife Jack had brought back from the crime scene. Although the knife seemed fairly ordinary, there was something that seemed familiar about it although she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She'd managed to retrieve some fingerprints from it and was currently running them through a computer system to see if they were a match with any data already stored on there. The computer buzzed away slowly and Clarissa sighed impatiently, trying to remember what was important about the knife.

"I bought you coffee?" Jack said entering the lab and placing a paper cup down in front of her

"Voucher?" she said raising an eyebrow

"No!" he said pulling a mock-hurt face "It was a '2 for 1'" Jack grinned and Clarissa laughed

"That's a little better than last time," she said sipping her coffee as the computer beeped

"What is it?" Jack asked noticing the look on her face

"I've got a match to the fingerprints," Clarissa told him and he gestured for her to go on "They matched the other knife. Jack, they match the knife you recovered from the car-park stabbing case,"

"What?" he said leaning at the computer screen, to conform what Clarissa was saying

"That's where I recognised this knife from," Clarissa said suddenly "The knives are the exact same type,"

"And both men died from a stab wound to the stomach," Jack said remembering the post-mortem reports "Which means the murders must be linked,"

"Slow down Jack," Clarissa warned him "It's too early to say for sure. But there does appear to be the same set of fingerprints on both murder weapons which were used to inflict an identical cause of death,"

"We need to contact DI Harris and tell her this," Jack said straightening up "And update Nikki will you," he called as he darted out of the room to call the DI

…

"So let me get this straight," Rachel said "You we have as serial killer on our hands?"

"Not quite," Nikki corrected "So far our analysis has shown the two cases appear to be connected as the same set of fingerprints appear to be on both murder weapons,"

"So let's go over what we know," Jack said standing at the interactive whiteboard "We have victim number one: car park man,"

"Otherwise known as Alan Jones, aged 31," Rachel supplied "Fixed computers for a living. Not married and didn't have any kids. A bit of a tech-geek as he seemed to spend most of his time blogging on various forums," Rachel said reading from her notebook

"Cause of death was blood loss due to a stab wound inflicted upon the stomach. Stomach contents showed alcohol but he wasn't over the limit. At most he had drunk one pint," Nikki said

"A knife was recovered at the scene. It appeared to be a typical kitchen knife available at any supermarket. Blood on the blade was confirmed to belong to the victim and we recovered some fingerprints from the handle although they didn't match anything when we ran them through the database," Jack said

"Victim number two was woodland man, otherwise known as Richard Carter, aged 28. Had recently broken up with his girlfriend but apparently they had ended things on good terms and still remained friends. Worked as a freelance journalist for various magazines," Rachel supplied

"Again, cause of death was blood loss due to a stab wound inflicted upon the stomach. Stomach contents showed vast amounts of alcohol and he was twice over the limit. I was worried about the lack of defence wounds so ran a tox-screen and found traces of _atropa belladonna_ in his blood," Nikki said and Jack raised his eyebrows in shock

"What's that?" Rachel asked

"It's an herb," Clarissa explained "More commonly known as deadly nightshade. Its berries are toxic to humans and can cause death; even if only 600 milligrams is ingested. In smaller quantities than that it has sedative properties which would maybe explain the lack of defence wounds. Combined with the alcohol he would have been too out of it to fight back,"

"How did that get into his system?" Jack said shaking his head "Where did he even get it?"

"I'm not sure," Nikki shrugged "Maybe the killer slipped it into his drink,"

"Where would you get a plant like that?" Rachel sighed "I'm guessing your average garden centre wouldn't supply it,"

"The internet or maybe it grows locally," Clarissa suggested "I'll look into it," she said making a note

"But more importantly, the murder weapon," Jack said "It's the same type of knife used in the car park killing. Possibly they might come from a set of knives; you might want to check what the local supermarkets stock. The blood belongs to the victim and again we recovered fingerprints from the handle. The fingerprints on this knife are a match to the other knife we retrieved. We also found a footprint at the scene belonging to a size four Converse trainer,"

"That's a relatively small size," Rachel said "Potentially a female?"

"Possibly," Nikki nodded "Whoever attacked these two men was smaller than them given the way the knife seemed to enter the body. Assuming the footprint also belongs to our killer, then it would suggest someone of a smaller stature. Maybe no more than 5"4,"

"Did the men know each other at all?" Jack asked

"We're working on that," Rachel informed the "We do know that they were both drinking at the same pub on the night they died. I'm going to talk to the owner and see if he can shed any light on our two men,"

…

Rachel pulled up outside the 'Slug and Pellet' pub two hours later. It was a small county pub, situated on the corner of a winding county road. From what she could work out, it was frequented by the local farmers who often drank there after a long day's work. Something Rachel sympathised with. She had so wanted this to be an open and shut case but it was just getting more complicated the more they looked into it. She sighed loudly as she got out of the car and made her way into the pub.

The pub itself had a cosy atmosphere and Rachel could see a few people milling around, having a lunchtime pint. She wished she could join them.

"What can I get you love?" a ruddy faced man asked her as she stepped up towards the bar. Rachel had already identified him as George Francis, the owner of the pub.

"I'm on duty," she said flashing her ID badge at him

"I won't tell," he teased "Well if it's not your thirst that needs quenching, what else can I help you with?"

"Information hopefully," Rachel said perching on a stool "I want to talk to you about some men that were drinking in your pub shortly before they died,"

"Ah," George frowned "I assume you're talking about poor Alan and Richard. That's grim stuff for a pretty woman like you to be concerning yourself with,"

"I'm sure I'll cope," Rachel nodded "Were they frequent drinkers here?"

"Not really," George shook his head "They only came in occasionally,"

"Together?"

George shook his head again "No, I don't think I ever saw them together. Only ever separately when they were meeting with John,"

"John?" Rachel pressed

"Jonathan Williams. He's a local man who lives maybe half and hour's walk from here,"

"Why were they meeting him?"

"John's a journalist of sorts. He produces a magazine, if you can call it that. It's mostly just a bunch of badly written conspiracy theory articles. He's mostly mocked around here to be honest," George told her "Most people see him as the village nut,"

"Did Alan and Richard?"

"No. They were part of the few who believed everything he said. In fact they wrote for him sometimes. Produced articles that went into his magazine, pretty much of the same standard,"

"Did they have any enemies' do you know?" Rachel asked scribbling some notes

"No," George told her "At most they were mocked. Around here most people just think they're oddballs. These farmers don't really buy into the idea that their cows aren't producing as much milk as last year because of lay lines or invisible alien parasites,"

"Do you know where I can contact Jonathan?" she asked "Do you have an address or phone number?"

"I can do one better than that," George nodded over to the corner where a young woman was sitting curled up in one of the chairs, reading a book "That's his daughter, Molly,"

Rachel nodded her thanks and slowly moved over to the young woman. Molly didn't move her eyes from the page but her body tensed up as Rachel got closer.

"Hello Molly," she said sitting down opposite her "My name's Rachel and I'm a police officer. I was wondering whether you could help me with something,"

Molly shook her head

"Ok…" Rachel seemed a bit lost

"She's a bit shy," George called from across the pub and Molly blushed with embarrassment

Rachel was about to answer when her mobile rang. She answered it, taking in the details being given to her aware that Molly was observing her "Thanks Jack," she said before hanging up

"Do you know Jack Hodgson?" Molly said quietly

Rachel nodded "Do you?"

"He's nice …" Molly said picking up her book and putting it in her bag "I wonder if he found what he was looking for…" she said, more to herself than to Rachel "I have to go now," she said seemingly no one "I need to investigate whether the aliens have visited the cows again today,"

When she had gone, Rachel turned back to George with a bemused look on her face.

"Like father like daughter," George chuckled softly "Poor girl though. She seems so lonely. I don't think she has any friends at all. Just lives in that big old house with her father,"

"Just the two of them?" Rachel asked "What about the mother?"

"Died about ten years ago. No one really knows what happened at all, though I think John's still trying to work it out. He's always going on about it. Keeps pestering that forensic lot to try and work it out. He thinks there's been a cover-up or something," George shook his head

Rachel groaned inwardly, it was clearly going to be a long day. She walked back to the bar and sat down "I think I'll have that drink after all,"

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, feedback really helps me improve. I hope I didn't bombard you with too much information in this chapter.**


	6. Divergent Boundaries

**Chapter 6: Divergent Boundaries**

Their third meeting was even more curious than the previous times. Jack and Nikki had been down at the local police station, dropping off some more details about the set of knives they were looking for. Nikki was still explaining the evidence she'd found, so to pass the time until she finished Jack paused at the vending machine to get himself a cup of coffee. That was when he saw her once more.

She was sitting on what looked like a very uncomfortable chair with her knees drawn up to her chest. Her face was buried in a magazine once more, but rather than reading it this time she was using it to conceal her tears.

Badly.

"It's the right way up this time," Jack said picking up his coffee "The magazine," he explained when met with Molly's confused and tear stained face. He noted that the bruising had started to go down slightly, although her glasses had not been fixed.

She nodded but didn't say anything

"Do you want a coffee?" Jack asked, gesturing to the machine behind him as he sipped his drink

She shook her head but still didn't say anything

"Probably for the best, it tastes like crap" he said pulling a face. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly "What're you doing down here?"

"Waiting to see my dad," she said in a quiet voice "Again," she added. Molly pulled the magazine away from her face and started to fiddle with the corner of the page as she spoke "That horrible woman police officer came to speak to him about those murders and then he was arrested

"On suspicion of murder?" Jack said looking shocked

"No," Molly shook her head "For swearing at the police officer and threatening her with a teapot,"

"Right…" Once more Jack wasn't sure how to respond to Molly's statement

"Dad doesn't like police officers. They accused him of murdering mum, they arrested him and he spent hours and hours in this police station. But he didn't do it, yet they wouldn't believe him. That's why he was so angry when she came around today. I think it brought back bad memories, it certainly brought back bad memories for me," Molly said wiping her nose on the sleeve of her top.

"I'm sorry," he said gently but Molly just shrugged in response "I know how it hurts to loose someone you care about," He crouched down so they were at eye level.

It was then that he noticed her eyes were fixed upon the stack of photos tucked under his arm.

Jack had a sudden flash of inspiration "Do you know what this is?" he asked pointing to the picture of the deadly nightshade plant.

"_Atropa bellandonna_. Otherwise known as deadly nightshade. It's an herb of the Solanaceae family. Generally regarded as poisonous, but women used to use it in their eyes to make their pupils dilate, as that was considered beautiful. Hence the name bella donna, it means beautiful woman" Molly reeled off

"How do you know so much?" Jack asked

"I like plants," she said simply "That's what's so great about living near a wood. There are so many plants to go and look at,"

"So you must know the area well then?" Jack questioned and Molly nodded "Do you know if this grows locally?"

Molly nodded "Fairly locally. Only a small amount though, at Devil's Cott. But-". Her sentence was left hanging as a door opened and Jonathan Williams appeared in the corridor followed by a grumpy looking police officer and DI Rachel Harris.

"Please…" Jonathan looked at Rachel as he gestured towards his daughter. Rachel sighed and undid the handcuffs Jonathan was in. "Oh my Molly," Jonathan said moving towards her. He touched her bruised face and she flinched, something both Jack and Rachel noted "Your poor face. It won't happen again my dear. I promise it won't happen again" he said softly

"We're going to hold your father for a while longer Molly," Rachel said sternly "To make sure he won't breach the peace again and whilst he's here he going to help us with our investigations,"

"I'll be home soon," Jonathan assured his daughter who was looking increasingly distressed "In the meantime…" he leant forward and whispered something into Molly's ear. Whilst his speech was inaudible to everyone else, they noticed the marked effect it had on Molly, who went very pale "I know we're getting closer Molly, we're going to make a breakthrough soon," he babbled as Rachel forced his hands back into the handcuffs, shaking her head at the bizarre conversation going on before her

"Come on now," Rachel said as the grumpy looking police officer pulled Jonathan away from his daughter "Time's up," and with that Jonathan was led away from Molly, down a corridor and out of sight

"How are you going to get home?" Rachel asked turning to Molly

"The same way I came I imagine," Molly said quietly, picking up her magazine and roughly putting it into her bag, sighing loudly when the sound of ripping paper was heard

"I can get one of my officers to drop you back," she offered

"That won't be necessary," Molly said curtly walking out of the police station without so much as a backwards glance

Jack, who had silently been watching the exchange, finally spoke up "Did you really have to do that?"

"What?" Rachel said turning to face Jack

"You know he didn't mean any harm," Jack frowned "and you seem more than capable of handling someone like him even if he had. So what's going on?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," Rachel said curtly

"Molly seemed to think you went to their home looking for a fight," Jack said

"What were you even doing speaking to her?" Rachel said angrily

"She was upset," Jack said raising his voice to meet hers "I wasn't just going to leave her there,"

"It's not your place to-"

"-Jack?" they turned to see Nikki standing behind them "What's going on here?"

"You need to handle your _junior_ colleagues a bit better Doctor Alexander," Rachel said sharply "He needs to remember exactly what it is he is paid to do and stick to that," she said brushing past Nikki

"What was that about?" Nikki said looking very confused

"Nothing," Jack said sullenly

"Jack…" Nikki sighed loudly as she adjusted the folders she was carrying

"DI Harris is stirring things up," Jack said finally after a moments silence "I know she's get an agenda here,"

"Why's that your problem?" Nikki asked

"I don't trust the police," Jack shrugged

"Well you're going to have to," Nikki said firmly "We all have to work together as a team. Things are difficult enough right now without fighting amongst ourselves. The Lyell Centre needs to keep its contracts with the police. With Leo gone we're under pressure to perform more than ever,"

"You don't believe me?" Jack said looking her in the eye and Nikki could see the frustration building

"Whether I believe you or not is irrelevant, as is whether DI Harris has an agenda. Stick to what you know best Jack," she advised

"You know you used to be different," Jack said angrily "You went out of your way to prove Roly Henderson was innocent, why are you being so reticent now?"

"That was a completely different situation Jack and you know it," Nikki said looking exasperated "Please Jack we need to work together…" but her words fell on deaf ears as Jack stormed out of the police station.

Nikki was too tired to run after him. She had spent the last few hours trying to get along with the police and truth be told she was as frustrated as Jack. But as much as she wanted to shout and scream, she couldn't. She was temporary head of the Lyell Centre now and she had to remain calm. She wondered how Leo had done it for so many years; calm and stoical in the face of unfairness and injustice. Nikki wanted Leo by her side more than ever, she needed his help. Nikki never felt the loneliness more acutely than in times like these.

…

"He's sulking in the locker room," Clarissa informed Nikki when she eventually arrived back at the lab

"Did he tell you what happened?" Nikki asked as she shrugged off her coat and put her handbag down on her desk

"I got a little bit of information," Clarissa nodded "From what I could work out, in-between the string of swear words, he thinks the police are up to something and he's annoyed you didn't back him up,"

"That sounds about right," Nikki nodded, slumping into her chair

"Don't worry about Jack. Just let him brood for a bit and he'll come round eventually," Clarissa said "Trust me, I know Jack and he'll get over it," she said, her voice laced with the wisdom of experience and Nikki was slightly comforted by her words.

"We need to work together," she told Clarissa who murmured in agreement "And if we're going to work as a team we're going to need a leader," Nikki slowly stood up "Leo's not coming back, however much we want him to," her voice quivered with emotion "This was his legacy, the Lyell Centre, and I will not let it go under," She turned to Clarissa "When Jack has calmed down, tell him I want to see him in my office to go over our meeting with the police," Nikki said standing up and walking into Leo's office and sitting down at his desk.

Clarissa smiled to herself. Despite her fears, Nikki was proving stronger than she had ever imagined. The grief had not yet passed, she knew that and she still wanted to keep an eye on Nikki, but this was a sign things were changing and moving on. Whether the change would be constructive or destructive was yet to be seen. But maybe, just maybe, things were starting to heal.

…

Half an hour passed before Jack skulked back into the lab. Clarissa could tell from his body language that he had partially calmed down but would probably end up doing some more fighting tonight to get the rest of the mood out of his system.

"Where's Nikki?" he asked

"In Leo's-" Clarissa hastily corrected herself "In _her_ office," she stressed the amendment

Jack looked surprised at this statement but it was confirmed when he made his way over to the office and saw Nikki siting behind the desk, typing away at the computer.

"So are you the boss now?" Jack said leaning on the door-frame

Nikki nodded "I am officially the temporary boss," she said

"I'll be on my best behaviour then," Jack said giving Nikki a mock salute which made her roll her eyes "What did you want to talk to be me about?"

"Just to debrief on our meeting with the police earlier," she said gesturing for him to sit down as Clarissa entered the room to join them "The police are trying to track down where the knives came from but it seems that they're sold in at least four different supermarkets in the same area which doesn't really help narrow it down," Nikki sighed in frustration, a feeling which both Jack and Clarissa shared

"I'm still running tests on the lens that we found," Clarissa told Nikki "I haven't managed o get any fingerprints from it but I think I'm starting to narrow down what type of lens it is. I contacted an optometrist friend of mine to confirm it and it appears that it's a corrective lens as one would use in glasses," Clarissa informed them

"Okay so we need to check if either of our victims had any visual problems," Nikki said making a note "Jack, do you have anything to add?"

"Only that the police are corrupt and that this case is being tainted by tunnel vision," he said angrily. It appeared that Clarissa was right in that his bad mood had not completely dissipated

"Do you have anything _constructive _to add?" Nikki asked again

"Deadly Nightshade might grow locally in the woods near where we found our second victim. I was talking to Molly Williams earlier, when we were down at the police station and she seemed to recognise it. She mentioned a place called "Devil's Cott" but I've looked on maps and I can't seem to find it,"

"It might be a local name for a place," Clarissa suggested and Jack nodded

"I was thinking of getting in contact with Molly to get some more information. She seemed to know a lot about the area," Jack suggested

"Jack," Nikki began "That's not your role," she said remembering the conversation they had earlier and bracing herself for another fight

"Fine," Jack said suddenly "You're the boss". Clarissa and Nikki exchanged glances, confused by his sudden cooperation "So if we're done here, I want to get off. Place to go, people to see," he said standing up and leaving the office quickly.

"Why do I think we've not heard the end of this," Nikki said groaning

"Because it's Jack that's why," Clarissa sighed "And I can guarantee that he's gone off to do some more fighting,"

"At least it's not with the police this time," Nikki said "Who knows, maybe it'll knock some sense into him,"

"We live in hope," Clarissa quipped and Nikki let out a weak laugh

…

Jack hurried out to his car, pulling his jacket around his body as heavy raindrops fell from the sky. His swore as he steeped in a puddle, splashing muddy water up his trouser leg. His mind was tossing and turning over ideas and theories. He knew he was right. About the police and about the deadly nightshade, so he just couldn't understand why Nikki and Clarissa weren't following his line of thought.

He was so tied up in his thoughts that he didn't see the figure lurking in the shadows watching him from the nearby shrubbery. A figure that left no footprints on the marshy ground. A figure that slipped easily back into the shadows as Jack's car headlights turned on it, so Jack never caught sight of it.

Though it had caught sight of him.

**Author's Note: Thanks again for taking the time to review this, I know I keep saying it but I do really appreciate getting feedback.**


	7. Devil's Cott

**Chapter Seven: Devil's Cott**

Jack usually spent his days off training at the MMA gym but he had strayed from his usual routine this time. Instead, he had decided to use his day off working. Not officially working _per se_ but rather, going freelance. He knew Nikki told him not to pursue the search for Devil's Cott and the _bella donna_ on his own, but he was so sure he was on the right track with this lead. He didn't trust the police with the information and if Nikki and Clarissa weren't going to back him up, then he decided he'd have to go it alone and face the consequences later.

It was for these reasons Jack found himself driving up the winding country lane that he had visited before when he attended the crime scene. He was hoping to track down Molly and get her to expand on the fragmented information she had started to give him yesterday. Jack remembered that she said she lived in the area and he was hoping that, in the way all their previous meetings had occurred, that he's just bump into her.

The day itself was cold and drizzly and the grey of the road seemed to blend into the grey of the clouds. The all-encompassing grey created what seemed like an enclosed space, it was quite claustrophobic. Jack pulled up on the side of the road and got out of the car. He was still on the main road which was surrounded by woodland on either side. He was now quite a distance from the small village in which he had passed through, but he couldn't see any houses nearby.

He walked a few meters up the road to peer around the bend in the hopes that what he was looking for would be just around the corner. When there was nothing there, he cursed loudly under his breath. His plan had been a hasty one; Molly herself had been vague about where she lived. She had only specified that she lived near the woods. She could have meant anything from a few metres to tens of miles. The frustration started to boil up in Jack's mind. He knew he was on the right track, if only he could just find-

"-Hello again Jack Hodgson,"

He whirled around to see Molly sitting cross-legged on the bonnet of his car. Jack hastily jogged back towards his car as she cocked her head on one side, watching him curiously

"Where did you come from?" he asked. He was sure he hadn't seen anyone at all in the area let alone heard anyone approach

"A stork brought me," she said "Dumbo style,"

"I didn't hear you approach," he said, now level with his car

"Did you not?" Molly said vaguely sliding off his bonnet "How are you Jack?"

"Fine…" he said trying to work out what was going on "I heard they let your dad out,"

Molly nodded "I'm rather pleased about that. Though on the other hand, he is not as pleased as I am. He's now writing an article about his experiences. I only skim read a draft but I have a feeling he might get arrested for libel,"

"That bad?" he winced

"Not at all," she shook her head "Some of the combinations of swear words ran quite well actually. There is poetic potential in his defamation," she paused "Though I imagine the police might not take it so well,"

"That's why I'm here actually," he said ducking back into his car "You left your magazine at the Lyell Centre," Jack pulled it out and handed it to her "I wanted to return it to you,"

"No you didn't," she said softly "And anyway, you can keep it if you want. Consider it a thank-you for being nice to me at the police station," Molly passed it back to him before she turned and walked back into the woods.

"Wait," he called, hurriedly locking his car and dashing after her

"I know what you want Jack Hodgson and it's not going to happen," she told him turning to face him "What I told you before, about truth not being always being the answer. That's relevant to this Jack. Devil's Cott is not the answer"

"But it does exist?" he asked "It's just that I couldn't find it on a map,"

"It's not marked on any map," Molly told him "Which is good thing as far as I'm concerned. It's not a good place,"

"Why not?"

"You ask too many questions," she said frowning "What is your obsession with finding answers?"

"I'm a scientist," Jack told her firmly "It's my job to find answers,"

Molly shook her head "Finding the answers doesn't always solve the problem. I told you that before,"

"I know finding the answer doesn't always provide meaning," Jack said after a moments silence "I saw my friend die in front of my eyes. I know exactly how his death occurred but it didn't make it any easier to deal with. Somehow seeing and knowing how it happened makes it all the more meaningless," he said quietly, trying to push back the emotion that was threatening to overwhelm him

Molly's face softened and she sighed "I'm sorry," she said and Jack silently nodded in response "But it's not a good place to go Jack,"

"I'll go by myself if you'll point me in the right direction," he offered

"No!" Molly said suddenly and he noticed the fear the flickered across her face "It's not safe and you'll never find it on your own,"

"I'll have you know I was a boy scout and achieved my orienteering badge and everything," he grinned "Please…"

Molly closed her eyes briefly before speaking again "It's not far from here," she said "Devil's Cott," she clarified and turned to walk further into the woods "I'll take you if you want,"

He dashed back to his car, grabbing his kit before hurrying after her once more "Why the sudden change of heart?" he asked falling into step with her

"Woman's prerogative," she shrugged

"You told me you were no lady," he reminded her and she smiled softly

"Woman's prerogative?" she tried again and Jack laughed

"Fair enough," he said "So what is Devi's Cott exactly?

"It's short for Devil's Cottage," Molly told him "It's just a local name for a dilapidated building. They call it that because above the doorway is a stone figure. People say it looks like the devil, hence the name Devil's Cott,"

"Do the locals visit it much?" Jack asked, trying to establish whether any samples he could take would be contaminated or not

"Not really," Molly shook her head "Some of the local kids occasionally dare each other to spend the night there but I don't think anyone has actually done it,"

"Anyone dared you?"

She shook her head once more "I don't have any friends," her voice was tinged with sadness Jack noticed a faint blush rise in her cheeks as she spoke

"So what do you then, when you're not waiting for your dad?" he asked, changing the subject

"I write for his magazine," she told him "I'm working on an article at the moment studying the link between ley lines and the amount of milk cows produce. The field of cows is right on a ley line and I think that aliens finding their way to the cows by such ley lines. The aliens are suffering from severe calcium deficiency and steal the cow's milk to prevent rickets. I've been interviewing the cows to get their opinion on the story. It's going to be a world exclusive when it's published,"

Jack raised his eyebrows as he listened to what Molly was telling him. He had started to realise from their frequent encounters that he didn't fully understand half of what Molly was saying let alone know how to respond to it. So instead he just nodded and made the right noises in the rights places in the conversation as she explained her various theories to him as they walked.

"He used to write proper articles," Molly told Jack "Dad worked as a freelance journalist, a science correspondent for various publications but that was before mum died,"

"Why did he stop writing?"

"Because science failed to provide him with a meaning for mum's death. No one knows why she died. One evening she was fine and by the next morning she was dead," Molly said quietly staring hard at the ground as they walked

"Did they perform a post-mortem?" Jack asked

Molly nodded "Three. Each time it came back with the same information. Cause of death was unexplained. Science, the very paradigm he lived his life by, failed to give an explanation. That was the start of it really. He writes conspiracy theory articles to try and find meaning," she explained

"Do you do the same?"

Molly shook her head "Some of the stuff Dad writes is nonsense. But the ley lines and the cows, well that all true. Just you wait and see!"

"I never understand half of what you're saying," Jack sighed as they passed along a gurgling stream. Jack wondered if it was the same stream he retrieved the knife from, the last time he was in these woods.

"Good," Molly smiled

"Are we nearly there yet?" Jack asked childishly

"Soon," she told him "Devil's Cot is in the oldest part of the woods, so we have to go in pretty deep to get there. But don't worry; I'll wait for you whilst you do you're CSI-crap,"

"CSI-crap?" he repeated incredulously shaking his head.

They lapsed into a gentle silence as they walked into the woods. Jack noticed how Molly seemed so sure of where she was going; never hesitating for a single moment to check her position. He assumed she must have lived her a long time to know the woods as well as she did. Maybe she'd lived there her entire life. That idea of permanence scared Jack. He hated staying in one place for too long, always eager to move on to pastures new and never giving his past a chance to catch up with him.

"Here we are," Molly said suddenly and they stopped "Devil's Cott,"

Jack glanced around and saw they were in a clearing in what seemed to be the deepest part of the woods. This part of the wood was silent. There was no river gurgling or birds singing. The silence was heavy; almost oppressive In the middle of the clearing was a small dilapidated cottage. The cottage itself was made up of stone that had a green oozing moss growing all over it. The windows and door had been boarded up but Jack could just make out a stone figure above the doorway which he assumed to be the statue Molly had described to him.

"The _bella donna_ is just over here," she said leading over to a small patch of vegetation about a metre away from the entrance to the cottage "See?" she pointed at the ground and Jack immediately recognised the black shiny berries of the plant. He crouched down and opened his kit up ready to take a sample of the plant. Molly sat down on the ground, a few metres away watching him closely. He took some photographs of the area and then the plant, before carefully cutting away a small section and placing it within a specimen jar. Jack turned to place it back in his kit, smiling at Molly as he did so. Standing up to brush the dirt off his jeans, he looked at the cottage curiously.

"Why is it boarded up?" he asked glancing over his shoulder at Molly

"The place is falling apart. I suppose people were worried that if kids went playing in there, someone would get hurt," she explained

Jack walked closer to the building. His face was turned away from Molly so he didn't see her body tense as she watched him. He placed a hand on the boarded up door and for a moment, he was sure he heard a scrabbling behind the door as if someone was attempting to unlock it from the inside.

"Jack, wait!" Molly sprung to her feet and dashed towards him. In her haste, she tripped over Jack's forensic kit and went sprawling across the ground with a thump.

Jack pulled back from the door "Are you okay?" he said crouching down beside her "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she said slowly sitting up "We need to go," Molly said and he was confused by the sense of urgency in her voice

He helped her stand up and went to retrieve his kit, carefully replacing the contents that Molly had dislodged when she fell. When he turned back around, he saw her gingerly attempting to place some weight on her ankle

"Did you hurt your ankle when you fell?" he asked concernedly

"I'm fine," she repeated "We just need to go away from here," she told him

He nodded and walked towards her "When we get back to my car, will you let me check you over?"

She nodded reluctantly and started to walk out of the clearing. Jack could see she was limping heavily but trying hard to disguise the pain she was in.

"Here," he said stooping slightly, taking her arm and wrapping it around his shoulder so she could lean on him when they walked. Jack took one last look at the cottage before turning his attention to Molly as they walked

It was slow progress but they eventually made it back to Jack's car. Helping her sit down in the front passenger seat he moved round to the boot of his car. He was proud of his MMA hobby, despite what Nikki thought of it, and now he was even glad of it. He pulled a well-stocked first-aid kit from the boot of his car, grateful for the medical knowledge he'd gained through various cuts and scrapes. He paused as he walked back to the front of the car and stared hard at the ground in front of him. Something wasn't quite right with what he was looking at but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Here we go," Jack said crouching down in front of Molly. He pulled on some latex gloves and started to examine her injuries. She had a few scrapes on her hands which Jack cleaned to get the dirt out. Molly hissed at the stinging sensation from the antiseptic but let him carry on with his examination.

"Can I look at your ankle?" he asked and she nodded, slipping her foot out of her shoe. Her ankle had started to swell slightly and some bruising was beginning to form. He gently examined her ankle, trying not to hurt her too much and murmuring apologies when she winced in pain "I think it's just sprained," he said finally "With an icepack and a bit of rest and you'll be fine," he assured her and she nodded as she slipped her shoe back on

"Thanks," she said. Molly attempted to stand up once more but was soon impeded by Jack who gently pushed her back down into the seat

"Where do you think you're going?" he said "I said that your ankle needs rest. You need to keep the weight off it for a bit," Jack told her firmly "If you don't you'll just do more damage and then you won't be able to examine the alien cows or whatever the hell it is that you do,"

"Not alien cows," she said "The aliens _visit_ the cows," Molly corrected him

"Regardless," he said shaking his head "You need to rest it. I'll drop you off back home, then we'll be even for you helping me out today," he said before she could protest.

He packed up the first aid kit, placing the blood stained items in the kit to dispose of later. Climbing into the driver's seat beside Molly, he caught sight of the bruising on her face that was starting to fade but still looked painful.

"You have been in the wars the last few weeks," he said starting the engine, but Molly just shrugged and inspected her grazed hands "So are you going to give me directions then?"

"Just keep following the road and I'll tell you when we reach the relevant turning," she said softly and Jack nodded following her instructions.

They drove along the winding lane as drizzle pattered down against the car windows. Although Jack was keeping his eyes on the road, he would take glances by his peripheral vision at Molly. He wasn't sure quite what had happened back at the cottage, but he had recognised the wild fear in Molly.

"Take this turning," Molly instructed "And keep following the track until you reach the end,"

He obliged, leaving the smooth tarmac and turning into a rough track, the stony surface grumbling as the car passed over it. A few moments later a building crept into view which Jack assumed their destination. It was a dilapidated old house, with crumbling eaves and an overgrown garden. Trees and wild shrubbery had been left to grow of their own accord and they towered up and around the house, enclosing it in a green shadow. Jack couldn't tell if they were on uneven land or if the house itself seemed to sit at an odd angle, seemingly titling to one side

"Home sweet home?" Jack asked and Molly nodded as he pulled up outside the house "Listen Molly, I wanted to ask you. When we were at Devil's Cott, moments before you fell I heard-"

But Jack's sentence was cut off as the front door of the house was flung open and a ruddy faced man stormed out followed by Jonathan Williams. Despite being enclosed in the car Jack could hear the expletives being passed between the two men as they argued. He glanced at Molly, who had shrunk back into the seat and was chewing on her lip nervously.

"Who is he?" Jack nodded towards the ruddy faced man

"His name is George Francis. He runs the local pub but he doesn't like Dad hanging down there too much with his friends. He thinks it's bad for business because apparently Dad is scaring people away," Molly scowled

The argument seemed to flare up before their eyes with the two men shouting loudly in each other's faces. Jack, being the experienced fighter that he was, recognised the signs that this fight was going to descend into punches being thrown. Getting out of the car, he called to the two men.

"Oy mate!" he yelled at neither man in particular "Not in front of the lady," he said gesturing to Molly who was tentatively trying to step out of the car.

His actions caused the two men to pause and seemed to de-escalate the argument, much to his relief. Jack moved round to Molly's side of the car and stooped once more to help her walk

"You're really short," he grinned and he saw the corners of her mouth turn up, despite the pain she was in

"Stay away from my pub!" George Francis called over his shoulder, as he stormed away from the house

"Dad?" Molly said holding onto Jack as she limped towards her father "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he said gazing after George

"Don't listen to anything his says Dad. He- Ow!" Molly gasped in pain as she stumbled slightly, putting weight on her injured ankle.

"Careful," Jack soothed, holding on to her tightly

The cry of pain seemed to jolt Jonathan back into reality and for the first time he seemed to fully notice the pair of them.

"Molly, what happened?"

"She had a little tumble, Mr Williams," Jack said "It's my fault really. She was helping me with my investigations, I left my kit in the way and she tripped over it," he was trying to be as charming as possible so as not to rile Jonathan up anymore

"Where were you?" Jonathan said noticing the mud on Molly and Jack's clothes

"Dev-" Jack began but Molly swiftly cut him off

"-Down by the river," she said and Jack tried to hide his surprise at this lie "I'm fine Dad," Molly assured him "Honestly it's nothing," she tried to pull away from Jack but was unable to hide the pain she was in when she tried to walk on her own.

"Keep the weight off your ankle," Jack reminded her again "I don't think it's broken," he told Jonathan "Just a bad sprain. If she keeps the weight off of it for a couple of days it'll mend in no time at all. In the meantime some ice and painkillers will help a lot, but really she just needs to rest,"

Jonathan nodded "Thank you…" he fumbled for a name

"Jack Hodgson," Jack supplied

"Of course, you were at the police station the other day," he said and Jack nodded "Well thank you so much sir, for ensuring the safety of my daughter,"

"It's fine, she's been a great help," Jack said as he supported Molly to move from himself towards Jonathan.

"Thanks Jack," Molly said softly leaning on her father for support

"No problem," he smiled walking back to his car "Just take things easy for a few days, okay?" he said and she nodded.

Clambering into his car and starting the engine, he glanced in the mirror to see Jonathan leading Molly slowly back into the house. Driving back along the country lane he tried to remember what was bothering him so much. He was sure he hadn't heard Molly approach him when she had met him earlier. Just as he passed the spot where he had been parked before it hit him.

He slammed on the breaks and leapt out of the car to check his hypothesis. The place he had parked on was surrounded by marshy ground, which had been exacerbated by the rain. He looked at the spot where he had met Molly. The ground bore the imprints of _his_ shoes.

But there was no second set of footprints.

**Author's Note: A bit of a longer chapter here but I hope you like it. Thanks for the reviews once more. **


	8. The House That Jack Built

**Chapter 8: The House that Jack Built**

"What have you done this time?"

Jack looked up from his work to see Clarissa watching him suspiciously "Sorry?"

"You're early," she said "You've only ever been early for work once. That was when the Detective Chief Inspector found out that you'd slept with his daughter and you were looking for a place to hide,"

Jack smirked at the memory "I'm innocent," he said holding up his hands

"Yeah right," Clarissa grinned "How was your day off?"

"Same old," Jack shrugged not intending to give away what he had actually been doing the previous day

"Which I assume means having a lie in and then going to get yourself beaten up?" she inspected his face carefully "Hmm, no bruises this time. You must be improving or maybe you just don't have any brain cells left to loose" she quipped and Jack rolled his eyes

"Your wit is endless," he said sarcastically

Clarissa was about to reply when she saw what Jack was working on, "Is that what I think it is?" she frowned.

"No," he said desperately trying to conceal the plant he was dissecting in front of him

"So it's just a coincidence that Nikki told you not to go hunting for the _belladonna_ yet there appears to be some in front of you,"

"Yes…" Jack said slowly trying to think of an excuse

"So that's what you did on your day off," Clarissa said "I knew you were up to something. It's written all over your face,"

"Is this the bit where you give me a slap on the wrist and put me in the naughty corner?"

"If you carry on like you are, it'll be closer to a punch in the face," Clarissa sighed angrily "Jack, we have to work as a team. Nikki is the boss now and she told you not to do it. You would have listened if Leo was in charge, so why not listen to Nikki?"

"Because she's wrong. Anyway Leo wouldn't have forbade me to do it, he would have listened to my hypothesis not blown me off,"

"Jack…" Clarissa warned

He sighed, pulling off his latex gloves "I know I'm right," he said

"Right about what?" a voice came and the two forensic scientists looked up to see Nikki standing there

"Nothing," Jack said quickly but Nikki had spotted the guilty look on his face

"What's he done this time?" Nikki asked Clarissa who opened her mouth to speak but was quickly interrupted by Jack

"Nothing!" Jack repeated again on behalf of Clarissa "Why do you both always assume I've done something wrong?"

But despite his protests Nikki wasn't fooled and she leaned over the desk to see what Jack was trying to hide from her. She recognised the black berries immediately and felt the frustration well up inside of her.

"Jack, I'd like to speak with you in my office," she said trying to channel her emotions. Nikki turned to walk into her office. Jack followed, looking very much like the archetypal badly behaved schoolboy who has been summoned to the head teacher's office.

"I can explain" he said when they entered the office and Nikki closed the door behind him

"I should hope so," Nikki said raising an eyebrow

"I know you said to leave it to the police but I don't trust them. Anyway I know I'm right about this lead. The plant I recovered is the source that poisoned our victim, the police-"

Nikki sighed loudly cutting him off in mid-sentence "We need to work as a team Jack. You can't keep going off doing your own thing. It undermines my authority and makes the Lyell Centre look bad,"

"I'm sorry," Jack said "I just know I'm right and I don't trust the police. DI Harris has got tunnel vision on this case. She's not been taking it seriously; you know it as well as I do. She's wanted to wrap this up, wanting it to be an open and shut case. That's what's wrong with this investigation; it's ignoring any evidence that complicates the simple hypothesis the police desire,"

"I agree Jack," Nikki nodded "But we have to tread carefully. Whether we like it or not we have to work with the police and DI Harris. I share you concerns I really do, but as much as I would like to scream and shout I can't. It won't help this investigation, it won't help our relationship with the police and it won't help us find out the truth about what happened to those two men," she told him firmly

"The truth doesn't always give us an answer and the answer we are looking for isn't always the truth," Jack said

"What?" Nikki frowned

"Nothing," he shook his head "It's just something someone told me once,"

"So can I assume that you're going to toe the line from now on?" Nikki asked

"Always do boss!" he grinned

"I mean it Jack," Nikki warned "I don't want to take you off this case but if I think you're losing perspective then I will," she told him and he nodded in response

"Can I continue working on my lead then?" he asked

"Well you've started now so you might as well continue but don't let DI Harris get wind of what you've done. I'll explain it to her eventually but right now let's just keep within in these four walls, Agreed?"

"Agreed," he confirmed and started to walk out of the office "I didn't mean to undermine your authority," Jack said pausing just before he left her office "I respect you, as a friend and as my boss,"

"Glad to hear it," Nikki smiled "Now get back to work slacker," she grinned and he laughed as he left her office.

Nikki sometimes wondered how Leo put up with Jack. He must have had the patience of a saint not to want to knock some sense into the young scientist as she constantly wanted to do.

…

"So you're still alive then?" Clarissa asked as Jack returned to his desk and sat down next to her

"Just about," he said slouching back into his chair "I've got detention every night this week though," Jack joked

"Just desserts,"

"And there was me thinking I'd get some sympathy," he said shaking his head

"You should know me better by now Jack," Clarissa said "Not sympathy, just sarcasm,"

"Why did I ever bring you here with me?" he sighed dramatically

"Because I make you look clever and you'd be lost without me. Now get on with your work before I slip some of that _bella donna_ in your coffee!"

…

DI Rachel Harris was not in a good mood. She had been hoping for an open and shut investigation. The case had seemed so simple on first glance, just a drunk who had overindulged and paid the price. Now it seemed that they had a serial killer on their hands. The budget for this investigation was spiralling and she didn't need anyone pressure from her superiors to keep the costs down.

Of course she didn't want more dead bodies on her conscience either.

Still if she caught this potential serial killer, it would look great for her career. She might even be in with a chance of getting the Chief Inspector job that was rumoured to be coming up soon. The one thing that seemed to be scuppering her chances was the forensic teams. In particular Jack Hodgson seemed to be doing everything in his power to block her chances at promotion. She knew he was a loose-cannon from the moment she met him and Rachel wondered how Doctor Alexander managed to put up with him sometimes.

Still the power dynamics in the Lyell Centre seemed to be undergoing a change. With Professor Dalton gone it seemed Doctor Alexander had temporarily taken over leadership. Some of the other Detectives were betting on how soon she'd crack under the pressure, but Rachel sensed a quiet strength within the pathologist.

Doctor Nikki Alexander was strong and very capable. Rachel could tell the woman had taken a few knocks in life, maybe it was due to bad relationship or the usual 'daddy issues'. But there was resilience hidden underneath the pain and the heartache. Rachel wondered if Nikki realised it was there. She was strong enough to keep Jack Hodgson under reasonable control, so Rachel needed her onside if she was ever going to solve this case and get promoted.

Still, she didn't fully trust Nikki. Rachel sensed she was being kept in the dark on some issues. The pathologist associated too closely with Jack Hodgson for her liking and Rachel wondered if his bad influence had rubbed off on her. She leaned back in her chair and watched the hustle and bustle of the rest of the department, trying to ignore the growing amount of paperwork that was on her desk. That was the one bad thing about climbing the ranks in the police force- it meant more paperwork.

"Guv?" she looked up to see DC Roberts lurking in the doorway. He had been the detective assigned to the first murder, the one in the car park, before the case had gotten more complex and Rachel had taken over.

He was a good detective but too inexperienced to be handling such a case. Rachel still kept him involved however; she liked him and wanted to help his career progress. It was more than anyone had done for her when she was a DC. She also wanted to keep as many people on her side a possible, as she was unable to fully trust the Lyell Centre team.

"What is it?" she asked "And come in, you're making the place look untidy hanging in the doorway like that," Rachel gestured and he walked in

"I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?"

Rachel paused for a moment to think "The good news," she said "Goodness knows we need some on this case,"

"We think we've narrowed down where the knives came from," he told her "There's a small supermarket only five miles from the pub, just outside the local village. A few days before our first murder occurred they had a break in. When they checked the stocked to see what had been taken, they'd found only one set if knives were missing," he said "The same type of knives that we've recovered from the crime scene. We're still checking out the details but we're pretty sure that the six pack of knives that were stolen are our murder weapons,"

"Wait," Rachel frowned "The knives are sold in packs of six. But there have only been two murders, only two knives have been recovered"

"That's the bad news Gov," he said "There's been another murder…"

…

"Night boss," Jack said sticking his head around the door of Nikki's office

"Stop calling me that," she frowned, but Jack was sure he had seen a small smile cross her face

"Where are you off too?" he asked noticing she was packing her forensic kit

"There's been another murder. DI Harris thinks it may be related to our investigation," she told him "I've been called out to the scene,"

"I'm so glad I'm not on call tonight," Jack grinned as he looked out of the window at the darkening night

Nikki shook her head "Don't make me change the work rotas," she teased "I'll put you on call every night for the next two years if you carry on like that,"

"Duly noted," he nodded "Well have fun and if you need my assistance you know where I am,"

"Getting your head kicked in?" she asked

He shook his head "Not tonight. Instead I'm going home and having an early night. Whilst you're out examining the dead, I'm going to be tucked up nice and warm in my bed,"

"That's it. You're on-call every night for the next two years,"

…

It was dark when Jack finally arrived back at his flat. He'd been stuck in the evening traffic which had delayed his journey but still, it was better than having to attend a crime scene. As much as he loved his job, he was looking forward to getting an early night. His job required obscure hours so he cherished the peaceful moments when he had them, infrequent as they were. Potentially even more so if Nikki had been serious about the work rota.

He unlocked the door and flicked on the light. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust as he moved from the dimly lit hallway to his flat. But when they finally did, the sight before him was not pleasing.

"What the hell!" he said letting out a stream of swear words as he surveyed the scene before him

His flat had been completely trashed. The furniture had been turned over, his CD and DVD collection lay strewn across the floor. The TV screen had been smashed and his laptop was in a similar state. The draws of his desk had been pulled out and his research papers were screwed up and strewn across the floor. But what angered him the most was the framed photograph of himself, Nikki, Leo and Clarissa that was now lying smashed upon the floor. He bent down to retrieve it, swearing as the glass cut his hand. The blood streamed quickly from the wound and he moved into the kitchen to try and find some kitchen-towel to stem the bleeding. That was when he saw the note on the kitchen table.

'_This is the man all tattered and torn,_

_That lay in the house that Jack built'._

_Are nursery rhymes descriptive or prescriptive Jack Hodgson?_

He didn't recognise the handwriting and he wasn't sure he even understood the message but it made him uneasy. Jack didn't like the fact that someone had been in his home and gone through his stuff. The endorphins were starting to kick in now and the pain in his hand numbed slightly. That was enough for his brain to kick in to 'forensic mode' and he started to analyse his flat for any evidence he could find. Of course the easiest option would have been to phone the police and let them deal with it but right now he didn't trust them and he knew he could do this job better than anyone. He'd contact them later.

Probably.

Jack went around his flat analysing everything meticulously. Whoever had been here had been smart as he could find no fingerprints or fibres on anything of his stuff. He wondered whether they'd worn gloves. That would suggest this was a pre-planned break in and not a random attack. Of course that was obvious from the note left on the table. Someone had specifically broken into his flat, bit for what purpose? As far as he could tell none of his stuff was missing. If the intention was to annoy him, well it was certainly working. But then why the note? The quotation from the nursery rhyme was odd. At first he'd just assumed it had been used because it contained his name, but the comment scribbled underneath seemed to suggest something else.

_Are nursery rhymes descriptive or prescriptive Jack Hodgson?_

They knew his first and last name. Well that wasn't so difficult to find out in this day and age. They knew that he, Jack Hodgson, lived at this address; again, not so difficult to find out. But the note had an oddly threatening feel to it. He couldn't quite put his finger on why. He'd never been very good as this abstract stuff; he was a scientist and he deal with facts and empirical evidence, not this philosophical mumbo-jumbo. Jack ran a hand though his hair and sighed; this wasn't the quiet night in he had been hoping for. He almost wished he'd gone to the crime scene with Nikki now.

…

The crime scene Nikki had been called to was already bustling by the time she arrived. Police officer, paramedics and SOCOs were already crawling all over the scene; their outlines being highlighted by the flashing blue lights of the emergency services vehicles that were scattered about. Clearly, DI Harris wasn't taking any chances this time. Speaking of the woman in question, Nikki noticed the DI hovering at the cordon tape with a nervous looking officer behind her who seemed to be hanging onto her every word in a mixture of awe and terror. She vaguely recognised him as the detective that had worked on the first murder. His name lost beyond all recall, it was hard to keep track of all the name of all the people she met at crime scenes. Only the really annoying ones seemed to stick in her head, like Mumford. In fact he'd got so stuck in her head that every time she heard a track by 'Mumford and Sons' she felt a surge of annoyance bubble up inside of her just at the mention of the name. Maybe she was developing a complex…

"Doctor Alexander," Rachel called, dragging Nikki out of her thoughts "Thanks for getting here so quickly

"What've we got?" Nikki asked "You said on the phone it could be related to the other murders,"

Rachel nodded "That's why I wanted you specifically. You know the case well and will be able to confirm it," she said leading Nikki over to the body.

The scene itself was a pub, 'the Slug and Pellet' to be precise. Nikki recalled the name very well; it was where both victims had been drinking shortly before their deaths.

"We know who he is already," Rachel explained as they entered the pub "His name is George Francis, he's the owner. I interviewed him as part of the investigation but he wasn't a suspect,"

"Well now he's a victim," Nikki said crouching down before the body

George Francis had been a ruddy faced man in life but in death he was as white as a sheet. Nikki examined the body noticing the rigor mortis that had started to set in. She glanced at his abdomen and sure enough there was what appeared to be a stab wound to the stomach.

"Well?" Rachel asked impatiently

"At this point in the investigation, it seems to be the same cause of death. The wound seems very similar to the others but I want to examine it closer before I commit to that hypothesis," Nikki said "The lack of defence wounds on him seems odd,"

"Victim number two, forest-man, didn't have any defence wounds either," Rachel said "Didn't you say though that he had been poisoned?"

"He had belladonna in his system. It didn't poison him but rather sedated him. We're assuming that's why there were no defence wounds. Too sedated to fight back, especially coupled with the amount of alcohol he'd been drinking,"

"Do you think this victim could have ingested belladonna as well?"

"It's a possibility. I'll make sure to test his blood for it," Nikki assured the office "I should probably tell you that we know it grows in the local area, not too far from here," she said deciding this was the best time to come clean about Jack's unorthodox investigations.

"How did you find that out?"

"Jack went looking-" Nikki began but Rachel cut her off angrily

"Jack Hodgson, now why doesn't that surprise me?" she said "I knew you lot were up to something,"

"We're not up to anything," Nikki protested "I told him not to go but rather to leave it to the police. But he's so bloody minded at times,"

"I told you to keep a tighter leash on your colleagues," Rachel reminded her of their past conversation at the police station

"Believe me, he's been warned about his actions and he knows he overstepped the mark," Nikki assured her "Anyway it's been done now and we can't change it. Despite the mess he made of the correct procedures Jack had given us a helpful lead. Let's try and make the best we can of this mess. We're already in the dark enough on this case, we need all the help we can get," Nikki reasoned

Rachel sighed loudly and left the scene, heading back towards the cordon tape. Nikki assumed from the lack of argument to her last comment that Rachel agreed with her. This investigation was already difficult enough with them fighting amongst themselves. She was getting a bad feeling about this case. Three deaths had occurred in the same area and all seemed to have been killed in the same way. If this was the work of a serial killer, then Nikki had an uneasy feeling that this was just the beginning of it.

…

Tucked away in the shadows, a lone figure watched the scene unfold. First the paramedics had come to try and resuscitate the man but the job had been done too well. He was already dead when medical attention had arrived at the scene. It was a bad case of 'Another one bites the dust', to quote the great Freddy Mercury.

Then the police had come and things had gotten interesting. The woman police officer had turned up early on and was directing the scene with a fierce enthusiasm. A younger male police officer followed in her footsteps like a lost puppy. The scene had rapidly been turned into a menagerie by the time the pathologist had been summoned. It was the blonde again. That was potentially problematic.

The woman police officer was easy enough to handle. Too tied up with delusions of grandeur and swamped by targets to see what was truly going on. But the blonde doctor was sharper and seemed committed to justice. Under any other circumstances that would have been admirable. In these particular ones it was an annoyance. Still, as committed as the blonde was, even she hadn't fitted the pieces together yet. None of them had, except the Irishman.

Now if the blonde doctor was a potential problem, then the Irishman was the bombshell that could blow this all apart. That would not do at all, not when there was so still much fun to be had. The figure watched the angry exchange between the woman police officer and the blonde doctor with glee.

No, it would not do at all to ruin the fun.

**Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story. Sorry this update is a bit late.**


	9. A Very Unusual Pub Quiz

**Chapter 9: A Very Unusual Pub Quiz**

Jack was still puzzling over the note that had been left in his flat when Nikki and Clarissa arrived at the lab. He quickly relayed the events of the previous night to them making sure he emphasised how useless the police had been when they eventually had turned up. They had brushed it off as a minor incident, assuming it was just kids messing about. But Jack was still uneasy, despite Nikki and Clarissa's reassurances.

He'd examined the note for fingerprints and was annoyed, but not wholly unsurprised, to find there were none. Whoever entered his flat had left no personal details about themselves in the vicinity, except the note. That would suggest knowledge of forensics, or at least how to cover one's tracks. If they knew who Jack was and where he lived they might know of his occupation. If this was the case then they clearly had taken care not to leave any evidence behind, pre-empting his response; now that was clearly not within the 'kids messing about' type of crime.

"What did you find out from the post-mortem?" Clarissa asked Nikki once Jack had finished his story

"It was as we thought. Cause of death was due to a stab wound to the stomach. Although the knife has not yet been found, it seems to be the same as the others. He had no alcohol in his system but vast amounts of belladonna. If it wasn't for the stab wound, I would have said the belladonna was the cause of death,"

"It's interesting," Clarissa pondered "The first victim wasn't particularly drunk and didn't have any belladonna in his system. He put up quite a fight, that was what mislead us at first, but died nonetheless of a stab wound. Victim number two was drunk and had belladonna in his system, hence the few defence wounds. Victim number three was not drunk but had significant quantities of belladonna in his system to the point where there were no defence wounds,"

"You think the killer is perfecting their technique?" Jack asked and Clarissa shrugged

"It's a distinct possibility," she said "Our killer seems to be getting better at rendering our victims helpless. Maybe they originally overestimated their abilities, they tried to stab the first victim but he fought back. Therefore, the killer had to change their technique slightly to compensate. The second victim was already fairly drunk so belladonna here could have been used as a sort of experiment. It clearly worked so it was the sole method of sedation on the third victim,"

"That was seem to make sense," Nikki nodded "From what we can tell, the killer is smaller than the victims which is a disadvantage. Sedating the victims lessens the possibility of being overpowered,"

"Do you think power is a motive?" Jack asked "I mean the killer sedates the victims thus rendering them helpless. They can't fight back and so the killer is in complete control. Speaking from a MMA perspective, that's one of the key things to do in a fight; gain control over your opponent to win. It's all about the power-balance, especially in terms of control,"

"An interesting insight into the Hodgson-psyche," Nikki smiled and Clarissa barely supressed a snort of laughter

"At least I'm trying," Jack protested

"You certainly are that Jack Hodgson," Clarissa quipped and Jack mumbled something in response that sounded suspiciously like a string of swear-words.

"We know how the victims died," Nikki said "But I think we need to know more about the knife and the belladonna. Clarissa, if you could take over Jack's analysis of the belladonna; I want to see if we can work out how exactly it got into the body. Was it ingested, injected or something else?"

"I'll get right onto it," Clarissa nodded

"Jack, I want you to find out about the knives. Go down to one of the supermarket where we think they came from and get a set. I want to see if we can establish anymore about knives. We know the killer is smaller than the victims so why risk being overpowered by stabbing them to death. Surely poisoning them with the belladonna is the less risky option?"

"I would have thought that was a job for the police to do," Jack frowned

"As much as I want to work with the police, it seems we're not in their good books at the moment. DI Harris knows about your little investigations and is not pleased. However, the body count is now three and we need to get moving before victim number four graces us with their presence. If that means overstepping the boundary, then for now it's what we'll have to do. But keep it discreet,"

"Discreet is my middle name," Jack said

"I thought it was Arnold?" Clarissa smirked

"Well it should have been discreet,"

"Right, well hurry along Jack Arnold," Nikki told him "And when you get back, I want you to go through all the cases we've had in the last six months and file all the paperwork. Don't think you're off the hook for your indiscretion quite yet," she told him and he groaned loudly as he left her office.

…

The supermarket was situated only ten minutes from the pub where two of the three victims had been found. It was small, but seemed to sufficiently meet the needs of the locals. Walking up and down the aisles Jack quickly found the set of knives he was looking for and made his way to the till.

Once more, and he wasn't sure why he was even surprised, he met Molly Williams.

She was paying for her items and was deep in conversation with the shop keeper when he approached

"And how is your father?" the shop keeper was asking her

"Fairly well," Molly replied "A little tired though, he's been working very hard recently. Lots of late nights, out and about,"

"He's lucky to have you," the shop keeper said and Molly just shrugged as she passed over a small amount of cash "And how are you Molly? I know it's the anniversary of your poor Mother's death coming up soon,"

"I'm fine," Molly said curtly

"If you want some flowers to mark the occasion then I'll sell you some on the cheap," he told her

"You're very kind. Now I best be off, Jack Hodgson seems to be in a rush and is getting impatient. Given that he is carrying a set of knives, I think we should be a little concerned," she turned and smiled at Jack

"How did you do that?" Jack said in shock. She had her back turned to him when she approached and hadn't seemed to register his presence at all

"Goodbye Jack Hodgson," she smiled mysteriously as she departed from the shop with her purchases

"Wait," Jack said throwing the money down at the shop keeper and hurtling after her

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it was dangerous to run with knives," Molly scolded him "You have a question for me I assume?"

"How's your ankle?" he asked

"That's not what you wanted to ask me, but it's getting better thank you," Molly said, although Jack noticed she was still walking with a slight limp "What was the real question?"

"Are nursery rhymes descriptive or prescriptive?" he asked and a flash of surprise crossed Molly's face.

Surprise? Or was it fear?

It had been too quick for Jack to fully analyse and Molly had quickly rearranged her expression

"What an odd question," she laughed "May I ask why you're seeking my opinion?"

"Well it came up in a pub quiz," he lied "And I know you seem good at the philosophical stuff. My team was stumped at the time and I thought you could help. It makes no difference now of course as the quiz is over, I'm just curious that's all,"

"Well it must have been a very unusual pub quiz," Molly smiled "Still, nursery rhymes do apparently describe historical events. Supposedly 'ring-a-ring-a-roses' is about the plague but the idea of them being prescriptive is interesting. That would suggest the nursery rhymes and songs serve as a warning. 'Goosy Goosy gander' might be a warning about what might befall those who fail to say their prayers. 'Doctor Foster' might be a warning about the potential effects of H20 on clinicians,"

"Ooh!" she said suddenly "Maybe the reference to cows jumping over the moon in 'Hey Diddle Diddle' is talking about the cows desire to emigrate back to space with the aliens, if that were the case it would seem to solve the calcium deficiency, issue that aliens are having. They could have chocolate and strawberry milkshakes all the time,"

"How would they get the different flavours?" Jack asked. He paused momentarily scarcely believing he'd asked such a bizarre question

"Different coloured cows obviously." Molly said shaking her head, seemingly appalled by his apparent ignorance on the issue "Still if nursery rhymes and songs are prescriptive then I might be a little worried. The Molly in 'Molly Malone' dies of a fever. Still, I suppose I'd be more worried if I were you Jack,"

"Why's that?"

"Your name appears in so many nursery rhymes," she said ominously, before shaking her head as if to push away a bad thought "That was a very interesting discussion Jack. I think I might ask my dad if we should include it in the next edition of our magazine, we'll give you full credit of course," she assured him "It would be a lovely addition to your CV,"

Molly suddenly glanced up at the sky and frowned at the gathering rain clouds "Oh dear me," she said "And it was supposed to be sunny today,"

"I could drop you back?" he offered but she shook her head "My car is just over there," he said gesturing vaguely

"I like the walk and it isn't too far. I'll make it back before the rain gets too heavy I'm sure," she told him "Anyway, it'll be good for my ankle,"

"Well don't overdo it," he advised her and she smiled at his concern

"I hope I helped with your question. I sense you have many more, but they're not for me," she stared at him "Yes, many questions floating through your head. It must be the curse of a scientist I imagine," Molly nodded "My dad used to get the same look in his eyes when he was still writing about science. It's gone now though. It's been replaced by something else…" her sentence trailed off and she became quiet.

Jack noticed her hand was raised to her face, her fingers trailing the bruises that adorned her features and he sighed softly "Molly, how did you really get those bruises?"

"Probably the same way you got that cut on your hand," Molly said noticing the bandage he had on his hand, that he'd used to bind the injury from the glass "Though an unfortunate turn of events,"

"That didn't really answer my question…"

"Take care Jack," she said turning to walk away up the road "And don't go jumping over any candlesticks," Molly called over her shoulder

Jack smiled softly as he walked back to his car. He wasn't sure if the conversation with Molly has quelled or exacerbated his fears. His head seemed so full of questions at the moment. About the note, about the case and also the question that seemed to never fully go away: why did Leo have to die?

Maybe Molly was right, maybe it was the curse of the scientist; always to ask, never to be answered.

…

Back in the lab, Clarissa and Nikki were sitting in the latter's office drinking coffee and going over their more recent findings

"I can't see any puncture marks on the victims so that seems to rule out the idea that the belladonna was injected," Clarissa told Nikki "They could have ingested it though; we know all three were in the pub before they died. Two had been drinking that night after all"

"As had George Francis," Nikki said showing Clarissa the toxicology report "Seems as though he liked a quick tipple whilst working,"

"So we're working with the hypothesis that the belladonna was slipped into the drinks and was used not as the primary method of killing them but as a sedative. The killer then takes advantage of this to then stab them in the stomach,"

Suddenly they were interrupted by Jack's reappearance back in the lab. Nikki gestured for him to come over and he stuck his head around the door, grinning at Clarissa

"You took your time," Clarissa said and Jack shrugged

"I get caught up with something," he said vaguely "I got the set of knives though," Jack said showing them "I'm still arguing that this is about power,"

"It's a possibility," Nikki agreed "But right now things are still very vague Jack and we can't risk jumping to conclusions,"

"Who's jumping?" he asked as Nikki and Clarissa raised their eyebrows in response "I think it's curious though," Jack pondered "That the stab wound was to the front and not the back. That would suggest the killer was facing their victims face on,"

"Is that more or less cowardly?" Nikki asked "The victims were fairly sedated in the first place. It's hardly likely they would have been able to put up too much of a fight,"

A knock on the office door brought the scientists out of their thoughts. They looked up to see DC Roberts standing there

"I've been asked to come to give you some information in exchange for anything else you've got," he said walking into the office

"By she-who-must-not-be-named?" Jack asked and DC Roberts frowned in confusion "DI Harris," he clarified and the Detective nodded looking a little sheepish

"We've got a list of the people who were at the pub on the night of the murder," he told them "They're a mixture of staff and customers and we're trying to get witness statements as we speak," DC Roberts explained

"Well, we think that the belladonna was slipped into the drinks so that would suggest that the killer was possibly present there that night," Nikki told him as he scribbled what she was telling him down into his notebook

"Apart from that, we've still got little else to go on at the moment. From the victims so far we can tell that the killer sedates their victims before facing them head on and stabbing them in the stomach," Clarissa said

"The MO seems pretty clear then," the Detective said "I just-" but he was cut off by his mobile ringing. Pulling it out of his pocket, he held it to his ear and winced as he listened to the speaker. Sighing loudly, he finished the call and hastily shoved the phone back to where it came from

"You shouldn't let your boss bully you like that," Jack said firmly

"How did you know it was DI Harris?" he asked

Jack smirked "I could hear her dulcet tones from over here," he said and DC Roberts flushed

"Yeah well she just wants me to realise my potential," the Detective shrugged

"Or use you to get a leg up on the career ladder," Jack said and Nikki frowned at him to get him to be quiet

"What did she want?" Nikki asked

"For me to get witness statements from everyone by the end of the day," he sighed "I guess I'll be doing overtime tonight,"

Suddenly a look of clarity crossed his face and he dived into the bag he was carrying "We found the murder weapon," he said pulling out an evidence bag and handing it to Jack "The knife had been thrown into the bushes surrounding the pub. No footprints leading to or away from there though," he explained "I know we haven't had much luck with the other knives, but could you see if you can get anything off it that might help?"

"Sure," Jack nodded

"This is knife number three, the packs are sold in sets of six," the Detective said gloomily "Does this mean we're half way out of the woods?"

"That assumes the killer will stop at six," Nikki sighed "Three murders so far and very little to go on. Why should they stop? They've not been caught yet. Maybe they're just getting started…"

**Author's Note: Slightly shorter chapter but it seemed like a good place to stop off for the moment. Things will get very interesting again soon though! Any theories so far? Also thanks for the reviews, once more.**


	10. Hell Hath No Fury

**Chapter 10: Hell Hath No Fury **

When Jack had woken up that morning, he had been hoping for a peaceful day at the office. Maybe examining some trace evidence, having a cup of coffee and skulking off home early to nurse his (very painful) hangover. But this was the Lyell Centre, and things very rarely went according to plan, as Jack was beginning to find out.

He'd arrived at the centre half an hour late for his shift and was in the process of knocking back some ibuprofen and coffee when he heard the disturbance

"I need to speak with him now!" a voice was yelling in the corridor outside the lab. If he strained to hear, he was sure he could recognise the voice of the security guard trying to calm someone down but to no avail

"You need to calm down madam,"

"I need to speak with Jack Hodgson now!" the voice came again and Jack's ears pricked up at the sound of his name. He got up from his desk and moved towards the doors wincing slightly as the voices got louder as he approached.

From his position by the doors he could see a young woman standing facing the security guard, shouting angrily as hot tears fell down her cheeks. Clearly overwhelmed with emotions, her body was shaking as she forced out her speech between angry sobs. The guard put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down but she flinched and pulled back, making a half-strangled sobbing noise as she did so.

Jack pushed open the doors and called to the security guard "It's okay mate, I can take it from here,"

"Are you sure sir?" the security guard asked "I can escort this woman from the building. She doesn't have an appointment to see you after all,"

"Really its fine," Jack assured him "I know her, I'll sort this out,"

"As you wish," the guard said turning to leave "You know where I am if you need me,"

"Thanks," Jack said smiling politely as the guard turned to leave. When they were left alone Jack turned to his visitor and sighed softly

"So do you want to tell me what this is about Molly?"

…

When Nikki arrived back at the lab from the crime scene she had been attending for the duration of that morning, she was surprised to find the lab largely empty. Moving towards her office, she paused as she saw Jack in there, crouching down next to a female figure hunched up in one of the chairs

"You've missed quite an eventful morning," Nikki turned to see Clarissa behind her

"What's going on?" she asked

"I'm not quite sure in all honesty," Clarissa shrugged "Jack's trying to sort it out now I think,"

Nikki turned her gaze back towards her office and watched as Jack seemed to soothe the young woman. He was crouched down so they were at eye level and was speaking gently to her. The woman was shaking her head wildly but Jack persisted in his task, despite how much she seemed to want to close off to him.

"I recognise her," Nikki frowned

"She's been here before," Clarissa answered her "Molly Williams, she's Jonathan Williams daughter,"

"Of course," Nikki said remembering "Why is she here?"

Clarissa shook her head "I don't know. She turned up here this morning shouting that she needed to see Jack. She was quite hysterical so he took her into your office to calm her down. He thought you wouldn't mind…"

"That's fine," Nikki said moving towards her office "Was he late though?" she asked Clarissa before entering her office

"30 minutes exactly and hung-over,"

"You owe me five pounds," Nikki grinned as she entered her office

"…that's it, nice and slowly," she heard Jack say as she entered the room "Keep breathing nice and slowly,"

Jack looked up as Nikki entered the room and gave her a small smile as a greeting. Molly, on the other hand flinched at Nikki's presence and gripped onto Jack's arm

"It's okay, it's just Nikki," Jack assured Molly "You've met her before, remember?" he said and Molly nodded

"Can I have a quick word Jack?" she asked and he nodded before turning back to the young woman

"I'll be back in just a moment," he said "Clarissa is going to come and sit with you until then," he said raising his voice slightly so Clarissa could hear what he was saying

He followed Nikki back into the main lab, towards his desk all the while trying to keep a watch on Molly as he did so

"What's happened?" Nikki asked

"I don't know exactly. She's not really been calm enough to tell me the full details. But from what I can work out, they've arrested her Dad,"

"Arrested him?"

Jack nodded in confirmation "DI Harris seems to think he's our killer. Or at least she suspects him enough to arrest him,"

"On what grounds? There was so little forensic evidence to tell us anything about the killer,"

"I know," he agreed "But that's what's happened. Anyway, Molly was obviously very upset at the whole thing and turned up here wanting to see me,"

"Why?"

"Probably for my dazzling good looks and scintillating company," he teased and Nikki just rolled her eyes in response "In all honesty I'm not sure. Part of me thinks she came here to blame me. I'm the forensic scientist on this case; maybe she thinks I'm partly to blame for her father's arrest or something like that. The other part thinks she came here because she's got no one else to turn to," he speculated

"I suppose I don't need to remind you that this is beyond your remit and is completely unorthodox," she said and he nodded

"I couldn't just leave her there," he protested

"I know Jack," she agreed "Let's just say that officially as your boss I am reprimanding you, but unofficially I think you did the right thing. I would have done the same thing in your situation. I don't know what DI Harris is up to or where this investigation is heading but I don't like it any more than you do,"

…

"So Mr Williams, I assume you know why you're here?" DI Harris said entering the interview room with DC Roberts chasing at her heels

"Yes, your officers did make it fairly clear when they slapped those handcuffs on me thank you," Jonathan said rubbing his wrists "Did they really need to be so rough?"

"You've been arrested on suspicion of three murders, we don't want to take any chances or make any mistakes" she explained

"Like arresting an innocent man?" he asked

"That's for us to determine Mr Williams," Rachel said curtly "Now if you're ready to begin…"

"I want to know what's happened to my daughter," Jonathan cut in

"The police are trying to contact her," DC Roberts explained "To make sure she's okay,"

"She's a grown woman though, I'm sure she's more than capable of looking after herself," Rachel said

"She's all I've got. I swear if you let anything happen to her then I'll-"

"-Mr Williams," Rachel cut in "Let me remind you that this interview is being recorded and anything you do say can be used as evidence,"

"Yes I remember the caution," Jonathan sighed loudly

"Then we'll begin," Rachel said "I want you to tell me about last night,"

…

"Dad and I were working on the magazine late last night when there was a banging at the door," Molly explained, pulling at the sleeve of her top in agitation

"The police?" Jack asked and Molly nodded

"Lots of them," she said "That woman police officer was there again and a male one who I haven't seen before,"

"DI Harris and DC Roberts I presume," Jack said quietly to Nikki who nodded in agreement

"He put Dad in handcuffs and told him he was being arrested on suspicion of murder," Molly said getting increasingly upset

"I guess your Dad didn't really like that?" Molly shook her head at Nikki's question

"He was shouting a lot. Saying things about the police I'm sure they didn't really appreciate hearing," Molly sighed "They tackled him and forced him onto the ground saying he was resisting arrest,"

"Did you witness all of this?" Clarissa asked

"Yes," Molly said softly "But after they forced him onto the ground, I got scared and ran away. It reminded me too much of what happened when Mum died…" she sniffed back a few tears as a runner of snot dripped down her face

"Where did you go?" Nikki asked looking concerned

"I went to De-" Molly started but cut herself off quickly before correcting her statement "I went down to the village and walked around until morning. Then I came here,"

"Why?" Jack asked

"I don't know," Molly frowned as if trying to recall something

"You were upset," Nikki suggested and Molly nodded "Do you have any family that can support you?"

Molly shook her head "No, my paternal grandparents are dead and my maternal grandparents cut off all contact after my Mum died. They never really approved of my parent marriage; they always said Dad was bad news. When she died, well that just seemed to prove their point even more,"

"I'm sorry," Nikki said softly

"He's not a bad man," Molly protested "He didn't do this,"

"Are you sure?" Jack asked "DI Harris must have had something on him to arrest him,"

…

"Do you often visit the 'Slug and Pellet' pub?" Rachel asked Jonathan

"Why?" he said suspiciously

"Answer the question Mr Williams," DC Roberts snapped and Rachel smiled approvingly

Jonathan shot a dirty look at the DC before answering "Sometimes," he said "It's the only local drinking hole around, most people go there,"

"But you go there for more than having a quick pint," Rachel said shuffling through some papers "We've got witness statements that tell us you go there to meet friends,"

"Colleagues," Jonathan corrected "They write for my magazine,"

"Why meet there?"

"It's an easy place to get access to,"

"Even at night, after it's closed?" DC Roberts asked

"I wouldn't know," Jonathan shrugged "I'm not in the habit of breaking and entering,"

"No?" Rachel asked "Just murder then?"

"What are you insinuating exactly?"

"Mr Williams, we have witness statements that state you had a difficult relationship with George Francis and were seen arguing with him the day before he was murdered,"

"That is all circumstantial evidence," Jonathan's solicitor spoke up

"Well then, what about this…"

…

"And then after she was done talking about the witness statements she said they had proof that he was going to kill George Francis,"

"How?" Clarissa asked frowning. She knew of the little forensic evidence they had on the case. If DI Harris had been holding information back from them…

"The magazine Dad writes for," Molly sighed loudly "The issue that was just published had an article in it,"

"The one about cows and aliens?" Jack asked and Nikki shot him a confused look

"Yes actually," Molly said brightening for a moment "But that was not the one I was referring to. He published an article about the pub. He'd had a number of rows with George prior to publication. Dad thought that the 'Slug and Pellet' were really putting slug pellets in the drinks they serve,"

"How did he come to that conclusion," Nikki frowned, looking slightly bemused

"He thinks that's how his friends were killed. He used to think it was something to do with the ley lines but he's changed his mind now" Molly explained "And before you ask, no I didn't tell him about the _belladonna_," she said

"Why not?" Jack asked

"It only grows in one place locally: Devil's Cott. He doesn't like me going there," she said

"And that's why you lied to him when he'd asked where you'd been when I dropped you home," Jack said and Molly nodded

"Anyway, Dad published the article saying that someone should, and I quote, 'sort George Francis out once and for all'" Molly grimaced "Coupled with the fact he was arguing with George and that they had a difficult relationship, well it's not looking good for him,"

"That's not enough evidence to hold your Dad on," Nikki told the young woman "She'll need more than that to charge him,"

"There's no way Dad will keep his cool long enough in the interview," Molly told Nikki "He doesn't like the police and they don't exactly like him,"

"They arrested him before," Jack said remembering

"He's been on the police's radar for a while I think," Molly nodded "He wouldn't tell me what happened that day though. Our relationship has been a little strained as of late,"

"Why?"

"The anniversary of the death of my mother is in a few days," Molly explained "It's always a difficult time for us. He's been going out late at night and drinking heavily. That's one of the main problems in all of this. On the night George Francis died, he wasn't at home. I don't know where he was the night…"

…

"So you weren't at home on the night of George Francis' murder?" DI Harris asked

Jonathan shook his head "I was out taking a walk, I needed to calm down,"

"Were you angry?"

"I'd had an argument with my daughter," Jonathan told her

"Do you often argue?"

"Sometimes, all families have rows," he shrugged "I doesn't mean that I don't love her. She's all I've got and she means the world to me,"

"So where did you go,"

"Out," he said "Just walking around trying to clear my head,"

"What had you argued about?" Rachel asked

"Her mother," Jonathan said "It's the anniversary of her death in a few days. Molly was concerned about how I was coping,"

"And this made you angry?" Rachel frowned "I'm not sure I understand Mr Williams. Your daughter showed concern for you and this made you angry,"

"She shouldn't have to be so worried about me," Jonathan sighed loudly "She's been through so much in her life already,"

"Yet you continue to put her though more by getting arrested," Rachel said

"Please, I need to know where she if. I need to know if my daughter is alright," Jonathan begged

…

A phone buzzed making everyone sitting in Nikki's office jump.

"Sorry," Molly said shaking her heads as she pulled her phone from her pocket, pushing a button to stop the noise. The action itself was futile given that her phone buzzed once more only a few moments later

"Someone's trying to get hold of you," Nikki said but Molly just shrugged

"I doesn't matter," she said softly "I should go. I've wasted enough of your time as it is," Molly said standing up

"It's fine," Nikki assured her but Molly was already putting on her coat

"I'm sorry, I should have never got you involved in all of this," Molly said

"We're the forensic team on the case, you've not got us any more involved than we would have been already," Nikki said

Molly shook her head "I wish that were true," she said as her gaze briefly fell upon Jack before flitting away "Thanks anyway," she said before leaving

"You can stay a while longer if you need to get your bearings," Nikki offered

"Thanks, but I've got an appointment to go to," Molly said shaking her head as if she had suddenly been reminded of her other duties and responsibilities

When she had gone, the team turned back to one another to discuss the events of the morning

"Did you get any forensic evidence from the knife DC Roberts dropped off yesterday?" Nikki asked Jack and Clarissa

"Only the same as we've got from the other two knives. Blood belongs to the victim and there's a partial fingerprint on the handle. I've checked it against the other two and it's a match," Clarissa said and Jack nodded in confirmation

"So it's the same killer," Nikki said "But is the killer Jonathan Williams?"

"We've got three knives, a partial set of fingerprints, a partial footprint and a lens from some glasses," Jack reeled off the forensic evidence they had collected so far

"We know that the killer is smaller than the victims which would match the smaller footprint that we found at the scene of the second murder," Nikki said

"It also links in with our hypothesis that the killer sedates the victims before killing them. Our killer is smaller and physically weaker than the victims," Clarissa expanded

"How tall would you say Jonathan Williams is?" Nikki asked turning to Jack

He paused for a moment before answering "5 foot 8, or there abouts," Jack shrugged

"He's too tall," Nikki shook her head "From the post-mortem results we found the killer is not more than 5 foot 4,"

"He could have been kneeling?" Clarissa offered

"It's a possibility, but we found a footprint which suggested standing," Nikki said "I think we need to go back to the crime scene for a reconstruction,"

"Good idea boss," Jack grinned

"But first, I want to call DI Harris and set her straight on a few things," Nikki said standing up and grabbing the phone off her desk

"Hell hath no fury like a forensic pathologist scorned," Jack quoted

…

"What's the delay?" Jonathan asked DC Roberts

"DI Harris had to take a phone call, she'll be back soon," the DC assured Mr Williams

"I need to get out of here or at least know where my daughter is,"

"I left her a message on her phone asking her to call us and let us know she's safe," DC Roberts explained

"Has she called yet?" Jonathan asked desperately but the DC shook his head

"I'm sure she's fine though," he trying to sympathise

Suddenly the door to the interview room banged open and DI Harris stormed in, with a furious expression plastered across her face

"Mr Williams," she said taking a seat "It seems that you're free to go,"

"What?" Jonathan and DC Roberts said in unison

"For now at least," she clarified "Don't think that this makes you an innocent man," Rachel said angrily "You're still on our radar and we will be in contact with you very soon,"

"Of course," Jonathan said standing up and following his solicitor out of the room "I look forward to seeing you soon," he said as his gaze briefly fell upon DC Roberts before flitting away "Thanks anyway," he said before leaving

"What just happened?" DC Roberts asked

"Doctor Nikki Alexander just happened," Rachel sighed loudly "She called me to update me on the forensic situation. They got nothing from the knife that's of any use, except that it's the same killer, but we already suspected that. She also clarified that the killer is of a smaller stature than Jonathan Williams. Anyway, the Chief Inspector got wind of this and told me I can't hold him on the little evidence we have and made me release him,"

"But we have some evidence," DC Roberts protested

"It's circumstantial. Having a row with someone is not a crime," Rachel said shaking her head "The magazine article he wrote doesn't prove anything either, it could just be a coincidence,"

"But he's got no alibi for that night,"

"But we've got nothing that puts him at the scene either," Rachel countered "I'm sure he was there though. He's the common factor in all the murders so far. All the victims knew Jonathan Williams and were with him before their deaths,"

"So what do we do now?"

"I want you to keep an eye on him," Rachel explained "Our killer isn't done yet. Six knives but three victims so far. If Jonathan is our killer than I want to stop him before victim number four get butchered,"

"What about the forensic team?" the DC asked "Doctor Alexander?"

"Let me deal with them," Rachel said standing up and storming out of the room

"Hell hath no fury like a DI scorned," DC Roberts sighed as he followed his boss out of the room.

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews**


	11. The Underground Man

**Chapter 11: The Underground Man**

Nikki sighed softly as she stared out of the car window. They were surrounded by reams of traffic, cars and vans angrily grumbling away as they were held up in a traffic jam.

"Why did I let you drive?" she said turning to Jack "Why did we take your car? Mine's much nicer," she said casting an eye over the interior of Jack's battered vehicle with a mixture of distaste and longing for the comfort of her own car

"Feel free to get and out walk any time you want," he said with a grin "I won't stop you,"

"And people say chivalry's dead," Nikki said rolling her eyes as she turned to stare out of the window once more

"Hey, I've never claimed to be a gentleman," Jack said in protest

"No-one's ever made the mistake of calling you one either," Nikki quipped

"Oh I see how it is, now you've become the boss you don't have to be nice to me anymore," Jack started "I'm not your colleague anymore, I'm just one of your minions," he teased

"Yes, that's exactly how it is," Nikki said sarcastically

"Feet fit nicely under Leo's desk do they?" Jack asked and immediately regretted bringing up the subject of Leo. A look of pain and grief shot through Nikki's face and he was sure he saw a few tears well up in her eyes "Nikki, I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that,"

"It's fine," she said brushing off his apology and they lapsed into silence as the traffic moved a few more inches

"I need to turn off and get some more petrol," he said staring at the dashboard

"You didn't fill up before we left?" she asked and he shook his head "Very organised Jack. You're able to analyse minute pieces of forensic evidence yet you can't remember to fill up your petrol tank. What kind of forensic scientist are you anyway?"

"A unique one," he grinned, glad she was conversing with him again

"That's one word for it," she smiled softly "I told you we should have taken my car,"

"Well next time we have a serial killer on our hands and have to drive out to do a crime-scene reconstruction, _then_ we'll take your car I promise," he assured her pulling in to the petrol station "You want to come with me?"

"I'll wait," she said

"Sure?"

"Jack, I'm a grown woman for goodness sake," she said sounding exasperated "I won't break into thousands of pieces if you take your eyes of me for more than a second,"

"That's what I like to hear," he smiled "I'll be five minutes," he said getting out of the car and filling up the tank

Once he had finished his task, he walked towards the service station to pay. As he walked down the small aisles towards the counter he caught something out of the corner of his eye that stopped him in his tracks. Amid the colourful array of magazines, tucked in the corner out of the way, was a small bettered looking publication. Whilst something like that wouldn't have ordinarily caught his attention, his name plastered across the front cover did.

'_Are Nursery Rhymes Prescriptive or Descriptive' by Jack Hodgson_

He crouched down and pulled out the magazine from the display and flicked though the pages, heart beating in his chest as he was reminded of the note the intruder in his flat had left. Truth be told he was still uneasy about the whole incident. The police investigation had, unsurprisingly, come to nothing and they were still passing it off as 'just kids'. Picking up the magazine, he moved towards the counter and roughly thrust some cash in the direction of the cashier before stalking off back to the car. His head full of ideas and theories to be concerned with social niceties.

"You took your time," Nikki said as Jack got back in the car

"I was distracted," he muttered

"Not by your "special magazines" again?" Nikki frowned

"Not quite," Jack said passing the magazine he had purchased over to Nikki, who read it with the same confused expression that had been plastered across Jack's face moments earlier.

"What is this?" she asked as Jack pulled out of the petrol station and back onto the main road "I've never heard of "The Underground Man" before," she said reading the publications title

"It's Jonathan Williams's magazine," he said and Nikki opened the cover to see a list of contributors. Sure enough Jonathan's name was right at the top, listed as the editor.

"I see," Nikki said flicking through the pages to get to the article mentioning Jack's name "I didn't know you wrote for it," she teased

"I don't," he shook his head "Someone has on my behalf,"

"Aren't you a lucky boy then," Nikki grinned as she read the article "Apparently you state here that nursery rhymes actually contain the secret base code of the universe. They have a prescriptive quality and if such a code is unlocked it can predict the future, this is all scientifically proven by the way"

"It's not funny," he said scowling at her amusement

"Don't look so grumpy," she said "It'll be a wonderful addition to your CV,"

Jack started as he remembered a previous conversation "Molly," he sighed "Molly Williams. I had a conversation with her and she said the same thing as you," Jack told her

"Why were you talking to her?"

"I bumped into her when I was getting that set of knives you asked me to get,"

"You seem to do that a lot," Nikki said "Bump into her I mean," she clarified

"Tell me about it," Jack sighed

"You don't…?" Nikki gently prompted

"No!" Jack said firmly, cutting her off before she finished her question "She's too young for me and too weird,"

"Charming," Nikki said sarcastically

"Anyway, she's the one who keeps bumping into me,"

"Maybe she fancies you," Nikki shrugged

"And you call me arrogant,"

"It's because you are," Nikki said and Jack shrugged in response

"It's not arrogance, it's 'bottle'," he said petulantly

"I'll remember that when I'm filling in the forms for your next appraisal,"

"Great stuff Boss,"

"I can make it a P45 if you really want," Nikki said and Jack lapsed back into silence, knowing when he was beaten

They drove on for a whole longer before Jack eventually spoke once more "Here we are," Jack said pulling up on the side of the road "This is where we found the second body,"

The two scientists got out of the car and walked a few metres up the road at where they had attended the scene of the murder before. Nikki noted how the place looked different by the light of day. When she had last attended, it was dark and the place had seemed quite sinister but now in the middle of the day it seemed quite serene, if not a little muddy for her liking.

"This is where we found the body," Nikki said glancing down at her I-pad which had the crime scene photos on it "And here is where we found the footprint," she said gesturing

"So we're working from the hypothesis that the footprint belongs to the killer?" Jack asked and Nikki nodded

"It's a reasonable assumption," she said "Now, this victim was found on his back. The stab wound was to his stomach so it was likely he fell backwards from the force of the stabbing. Such was probably exacerbated by the fact he was heavily intoxicated and sedated; his balance wouldn't have been very good at all,"

"So let's pretend that I'm the victim and you're the killer," Jack said to Nikki "Because I'm taller than you and the victim is taller than the killer"

She nodded and moved into the position where they had found the footprint "I'm facing you head on. I know you're intoxicated given that I've slipped some belladonna into your drink somehow,"

"I'm out of it. I don't really know where I am or where I'm going…" Jack said

"That gives me easy access to your stomach," Nikki said gesturing as if she was stabbing Jack in the stomach "And you can't fight back,"

"Why risk facing the victim head on. Even if he was sedated enough, there's still a chance he might be found before he dies. If our victims somehow survive then they could give information about their attacker,"

"We're assuming our killer is physically weaker than average. So they're scared and have to heavily sedate their victims, maybe this is their way of making up for it. A bold action like that makes up for the cowardice earlier on," Nikki suggested

"After they've killed they don't bother to hide the body," Jack pondered "Probably because they're not strong enough to move it. The footprint we found led into the woods which is where I found the knife,"

"The killer is aiming to get off the main road. The trees provide a good hiding place so they won't be seen," Nikki said glancing into the woods "Why was our victim coming up here in the first place?" she asked "It seems to be mostly farmland,"

"Jonathan Williams lives just up there," Jack gestured "The first two victims knew him. They wrote for his magazine. Maybe he was looking for help?"

"That would suggest he knew he was in some sort of danger," Nikki frowned

"These aren't random attacks are they though" Jack said thinking through his hypothesis "All the victims had been drinking alcohol, all had been in the pub and all knew Jonathan Williams,"

"It's still a vague link between the victims," Nikki said "The only strong link we have is that they were killed in the same way,"

"That's the other interesting thing," Jack said "Our killer seems to be forensically aware. They leave so little trace behind, which suggests knowledge of how to cover their tracks,"

"They left fingerprints though," Nikki countered "On the knives,"

"Partial fingerprints," Jack corrected "Clarissa thinks the killer tried to wipe them off, albeit it unsuccessfully,"

"Maybe they were in a rush. Or maybe the rush had worn off," Nikki hypothesized "Killing gives them a feeling of power but when it's over and done the killer realizes what they've done and reverts back to their weaker state. They know the police will find the body and so panic and want to get out of there fast…"

Jack was shaking his head "But they've made no attempt to hide the body or even the weapon very well," he said "I think this is all deliberate. The killer hid any trace of them being there too well to accidently leave some fingerprints on the knife. After all it's surely one of the first things you think about wiping. Fingerprints are unique to each person and are one of the biggest giveaways forensically,"

"True," Nikki nodded "But what's your point?"

"The killer is trying to communicate something to us," Jack said "It's like a game of cat and mouse. The fingerprints were left deliberately, maybe to test us or maybe to risk being caught out. To what purpose I'm not sure, maybe to gain attention or it just adds to the thrill they get from killing? But one thing I'm sure of is that our killer is enjoying this game,"

"That's sinister," Nikki said shaking her head. Whilst the woodland had seemed like a nice place when she arrived, it was rapidly getting creepy once more.

"I wish I had a nicer explanation," Jack sympathized

Nikki glanced around the woods with a sinking feeling in her stomach, "We must be missing something," she said glancing up and down the road

"I think we've got all we're going to get from here," Jack said "We can't do much more except wait…"

"For the next killing?" Nikki said

"I hope it doesn't come to that," Jack said "We can go back to the lab and catch up with Clarissa. I propose we order in a takeaway and go over the evidence we've gotten so far. There must be something that we're missing," he said and Nikki nodded as they turned to walk back to his car

…

Later that evening DC Roberts once more drove up and down the same country lane where Nikki and Jack had been earlier that day. DI Harris had made him go out that night to keep an eye on Jonathan Williams. She was sure he was the killer and was determined not to let him out of her sight. Or if he couldn't be in her sight all the time then he'd be in someone else's sight all the time.

And DC Roberts had drawn the short straw.

He wasn't even meant to be working that night. He was meant to be at home having a quiet night in with his fiancée. Jen had not been happy about having their plans cancelled when he told her he had to work. In all honesty he was too happy either but DI Harris had told him that this would be good experience for him and that she promised to make a note of his dedication and commitment to the case.

"_Anytime you need a reference I can give you a glowing one. We'll make a DI out of you yet,"_

He loved being a copper and he did want to climb the ranks. He'd been passed over for promotion many times and had fought tooth and nail to get to the rank of DC. People still weren't convinced; they saw him as inexperienced and not cut out for the rank. He knew that helping solve this case would prove them wrong. If he could find the key piece of evidence to crack the case then they'd stop teasing him.

Jen couldn't see it like that though. She thought DI Harris was just using him to get herself promoted. In fact that scientist, Jack Hodgson, had said the same thing to him. Sometimes he agreed with them but anytime he tried to bring the subject up DI Harris just kept reminding him of how much she was helping him and telling him that no one helped her when she was in his position.

So he kept quiet and balanced the wrath of the DI with his fiancée, in the hope he might one day have the best of both worlds. Tonight clearly would not be the night that was going to happen. He was getting tired now and was keen to get off home soon but DI Harris had told him to wait late into the evening before he went home. He hadn't observed anything remotely suspicious and so decided to drive back down towards the village.

As he drove down the winding road he passed the 'Slug and Pellet' which had re-opened for business. Whilst it had been a crime-scene before, forensics said there was nothing left to collect there? DC Roberts was surprised that the pub had re-opened so quickly and that people were still coming to it after being linked to the murders. He assumed it was something to do with solidarity in the community.

He could do with a pint though…

Pulling up in the car park, he entered the pub convincing himself that he would take the opportunity to speak to some of the locals to see if they had any more information. The atmosphere in the pub was unsurprisingly slightly somber and most of the pub's inhabitants were gazing gloomily into their pints when he walked in.

"What can I get you?" he was asked as he sat down at the bar

"A pint of larger please," DC Roberts said handing over the money

"Coming right up Sir. You're not a local are you? I haven't seen you in here before,"

"I'm here on business," he replied

"Investigating those murders?"

"How did you know I'm a police officer?"

"I know a copper when I see one. Grim business though, those murders,"

"I don't suppose you saw anything or know anything or know anyone who saw or knows something?" he laughed tiredly. These long shifts were starting to skew his thought process.

"Sorry," came the reply "I can't help you there I'm afraid. But I can help quench your thirst,"

The much desired pint was placed in front of him and he took a large gulp of the contents and sighed in a satisfied manner

"Better?"

"Much better, thank you. Unusual taste this pint," he said

"It's a local blend,"

"Well it's certainly got a kick to it,"

"That's the idea. I'm glad you like it though, you look like you needed it,"

"You're telling me!"

"Yeah, I clocked you the moment you stepped in here. I've never seen anyone more in need of a pint than you. It might even be said that you looked like you were _dying_ for one…"

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews!**


	12. Follow My Leader

**Chapter 12: Follow My Leader**

"Body is that of an adult male, estimated to be in late-twenties to early-thirties. The body appears to be well-nourished and in good shape for someone of this age. Clothes were present but have since been removed for forensic examination,"

The scalpel glinted as it caught the bright lights of the cutting room.

"External examination shows a single stab wound to the stomach. There are no defence wounds present,"

The scalpel pressed into the soft flesh. No blood to chase the scalpel as it ran down the body. There were no signs of life anymore; just a cold, lump of flesh ready to be cut up in a search for meaning.

"I'm sorry," Jack said to DI Harris as they watched Nikki perform the post-mortem from the observation platform but she just shrugged in response "I know how hard it is to lose a colleague,"

They had gotten the call early that morning: another body had been found. Initial details had sounded familiar to the other murders. But this time the victim had not been anonymous

"I swear I'm going to get whoever did this and make them pay," DI Harris said though gritted teeth

"What was he doing there anyway?"

"DC Roberts was on duty. He was keeping an eye on Jonathan Williams for me,"

"He's still a suspect?" Jack said incredulously "Is it even legal to be tailing him like that?"

"Like I said before, stick to your job and let me do mine,"

"With respect Detective, you don't seem to be doing a very good job so far,"

"Jack!" he looked up to see Nikki glaring at him from the cutting room. He had forgotten that the speakers worked both ways

"Sorry," he sighed running a hand through his hair

"Cause of death is the same as the others," Nikki told them "Stab wound to the stomach, which by the way contained alcohol. We'll test it further to get a better idea of the exact contents,"

"What was he doing drinking on duty anyway?" Jack asked

"I don't know," the Detective snapped

"Jack, will you go and see how Clarissa is getting on analysing the clothes," Nikki said trying to diffuse the situation

"I'm sure she's doing okay," Jack said failing to understand what Nikki was hinting at

"Just _go_ anyway," she said stressing the middle word in an attempt to attract his attention to the underlying meaning

He frowned for a moment before his features relaxed. He understood what she was hinting at and left the room. Not before sighing loudly to communicate his own thoughts about the situation.

…

"Did she kick you out?" Clarissa said looking up from her work as Jack moodily stalked over to her

"No…" he said grumpily "She wants me to see how you're getting on,"

"So she _did _kick you out then," Clarissa glanced at her watch "Still she put up with you for ten minutes. Must be a new record,"

"Maybe it's her time of the month," Jack said sulkily

"Maybe it's yours,"

Jack rolled his eyes at her comment "So what have you got so far?" he asked trying to change the subject

"Shirt material is torn by what looks like a knife blade. I assume Nikki is going for the idea that cause of death was a stab wound?" she asked and Jack nodded in confirmation

"It looks that way so far. And he has alcohol in his stomach contents. Nikki is testing it now but so far it looks like the other murders. If that's the case then we're probably going to be limited in what evidence we can pull off the clothes giving our current track record,"

"I wouldn't be so sure," Clarissa said passing Jack a sealed evidence bag

He took it from her and peered into the contents. Held within the plastic, and almost invisible to the naked eye, was a fibre

"Where did you find this?"

"On the shirt," Clarissa said "And I reckon it's a good chance it might be from the killer,"

"Our killer is slipping," Jack pondered "The last three times they've been so careful. To leave evidence behind is hasty or they're just playing with us,"

"Maybe Jack…"

"How are we getting on with the fingerprints we recovered from the knives?"

"It's a slow process Jack. The prints are only partial so it's taking time to match them. Although we now have confirmation it is the same prints on all the knives,"

"The killer didn't even try and dispose of the knife this time," Jack sighed "Just left it in the victim,"

"That is a change," Clarissa agreed "But the knives of the last three murders were retrieved fairly easily. The killer didn't seem to make much of an attempt to hide them,"

"I guess they didn't need to since there's so little evidence to pull from them," Jack said "I'm sure this is all one big mind game our killer is playing. Leaving knives around, making us think we have a lead which turns out to be a dead-end,"

"We'll get there Jack," Clarissa told him recognising the growing frustration building up in her colleague

"Yeah…"

"How's your flat looking now?" she asked changing the subject

"Everything's back together again," Jack said "Still not a clue who did it or why though. And don't say it was just kids because we both know it wasn't,"

"You can't prove it either way," Clarissa said "No evidence, no conviction,"

"Well when I find out who trashed my flat, I'm going to give them a taste of my own sense of justice,"

Clarissa sighed "Why don't you take a break Jack. Go out for a coffee or something,"

"I'm not thirsty,"

"Why don't you go anyway," she said repeating a phrase Jack had already heard that day "You can grab me a coffee whilst you're there,"

"Fine," he said standing up and grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair "I know when I'm not wanted,"

Clarissa shook her head gently as she watched Jack walk out of the lab. He was highly strung today and wasn't particularly helpful to be around. She glanced down at her watch: 11 and half minutes. She'd set a new record for conversing with him when he was in one of his moods.

…

Jack mooched down the streets toward the coffee shop, his head a whirling mess of anger, frustration and various theories about the case. He hadn't meant to be so snappy towards Nikki and Clarissa but there was just something about this case that was just getting to him. He turned off from the main road, down a quieter path, hoping that getting away from the traffic would help clear his head a little.

He stopped suddenly and whirled around, his eyes darting around checking every inch of the street he was standing on.

_Pull yourself together Jack._

But he was sure he had seen something out of the corner of his eye.

Something?

Someone?

He shook himself and carried on up the road, his senses still on high alert as he walked. A shiver suddenly crept up his spine a he sense something behind him. Jack turned around once more to check what was behind him.

"What the hell!"

And was met with a sharp blow to his ribs

…

Nikki stepped through the frosted glass doors into the waiting area. Sat on one of the chairs was a woman hunched over. Sobs wracked her body and she clutched on to a damp-looking tissue like it was the last barrier between the oncoming torrent of grief that threatened to overwhelm her

"Jennifer Jones?" the woman looked up "Hi, I'm Doctor Alexander. I'm the pathologist working on your fiancé's case. I'm very sorry for your loss,"

"It was going to be Roberts,"

"Sorry?" Nikki frowned

"I was going to marry him and become Jennifer Roberts," she sobbed

"I'm so sorry," Nikki repeated "I know this must be hard for you and I think you're so brave coming along her today,"

"I just want to make sure whoever did this to him gets caught and punished. But not only the people who did this to him, but the people who put him in that situation in the first place,"

"What do you mean?"

"He wasn't supposed to be working that night but she pushed him into it. I warned him about her but he wouldn't listen. I had a bad feeling about her from the start. She was too driven and not in a good way. It seemed that she wanted success at any cost. I just never thought she'd put one of her colleagues in the firing line just to get a result,"

"DI Harris you mean?"

"It doesn't even matter if you find the killer, because she's the one that killed him really. If he hadn't gone out that night, then he'd still be alive. But she won't be punished. You'll find the killer, she'll get promoted and all of this will be overlooked. He will be overlooked."

"I'm sure that's not the case. There will be an investigation and if, like you said, she's at fault then she'll have to take responsibility for her actions,"

Jennifer shook her head "She'll pass the buck. At best someone else will be blamed but not her,"

"Jennifer…"

"I'd like to see my finance now," she said firmly "I want to say goodbye,"

…

Clarissa pulled away from the microscope and frowned. There was no doubt about it, the fibre was from some clothing. Dark in colour and quite thick, it looked like something from a jumper.

But something was troubling her.

The fibre had been too easy to find. Usually she had to dig it out from under someone's fingernails or scrape it off the bottom of their shoe. But this fibre was lying on the body, easily lifted from the front of the shirt. She was surprised it hadn't been dislodged when the body was moved but she supposed the blood from the stab wound had held it in place.

She suddenly remembered something Jack said, about the killer playing games. Could the killer have deliberately left it there for her to find? Was the killer trying to tell her something?

Clarissa shook her head, annoyed at herself for indulging in such conspiracy theories.

She was almost getting as bad as Jack

…

Jack sat down on the pavement breathing heavily as the throbbing pain in his ribs gradually subsided.

"How's your nose?" he asked cocking his head on one side

"It's stopped bleeding," came the reply

"I'm really sorry," Jack apologised as he passed across another tissue "If I'd known it was you Molly then I never would have…"

"Elbowed me in the face?"

"_Accidently_ elbowed you in the face," he corrected "Anyway you got me pretty good in the ribs," he said

"Sorry," Molly blushed "I guess we're even," she said pulling the bloody tissue away from her face

"Are these new?" Jack said passing back her glasses which had been knocked off her face

"Yes," she nodded "My other ones were beyond repair,"

"They don't seem to have taken much of a knock," he said watching het put them back on her face

"Good," she smiled gently at him

"What are you doing here anyway?" Jack asked "A bit far from home aren't you?"

Molly shrugged in response

"Not going to tell me eh?" he said watching her closely "You and I do seem to have a habit of bumping into one another don't we?"

"Maybe its fate," she said moving slightly closer to him

"Maybe its just bad luck," he teased watching Molly's expression fall at his words "Hey I was joking,"

"I wasn't," she mumbled and Jack frowned as he remembered the conversation he'd had with Nikki

"I'm flattered Molly," he said gently "But I think I'm a little old for you…"

Molly blushed bright red as she pulled herself onto her feet "I didn't mean…"

"It's okay Molly," he assured her

"You've gotten this all wrong. I should never have said anything," she said turning as she dashed away from Jack

"Molly," he called after her but she was long gone. He shook his head as he got to his feet.

He hadn't meant to elbow her in face and it was a shock to him when he turned around to find her behind him. His meetings with her were getting more and more bizarre. Jack hoped that his little talk with her had set the record straight. He carried on down the road trying to mentally backtrack and remember the hypothesis he had been constructing, ignoring the slight throbbing that was still present in his ribs.

…

"How did she take it?" Clarissa asked after Nikki had shown Jennifer Jones from the Lyell Centre

"Badly," Nikki sighed "She wants DI Harris' head on a plate,"

"She blames her then?" and Nikki nodded in response

"At least DI Harris didn't turn up. I wouldn't want to see that confrontation"

"I wouldn't speak too soon," Clarissa told her "She's waiting in your office for an update,"

"Great…" Nikki sighed "Have we got anything new to tell her?"

"The fibre I found is from a jumper of some sort. But not the same type of fibre as any of the clothes DC Roberts was wearing,"

"Potentially from the killer?"

"Maybe, but don't let DI Harris get too excited," Clarissa advised "It's still early days yet,"

"Thanks," Nikki smiled

"Good luck,"

"I think I'm going to need it," Nikki said as she walked into her office to be met by a frantic looking DI Harris

"I need to know where we're up to. What did the post-mortem confirm?"

"Very little," Nikki said gesturing for the DI to take a seat "Nothing that we didn't already suspect. Stab wound to the stomach was the cause of death. A lack of defence wounds suggests sedation was used. Alcohol was in his stomach and we're chasing toxicology to confirm it but we're pretty certain that it was mixed in with belladonna,"

"You've got nothing else?"

"Not at this moment in time," Nikki said "Like I said we're still running tests. It will take some time,"

"We don't have time. Four murders. Six knives. I'm sure you can count Doctor Alexander," the DI snapped

"I understand you're upset," Nikki reasoned "But please don't take this out on me. I do understand how it feels to lose a colleague-"

"-No offence but it's hardly the same thing. From what I heard Professor Dalton chose to get himself blown up. DC Roberts risked his life trying to catch a killer,"

Nikki stood up and slammed her hands on the desk "Leo sacrificed himself to protect others. He didn't simply get himself blown up. He was protecting everyone, protecting me, just like he always did. He did it out of love not because he was forced to,"

"What are you implying?" DI Harris said standing up and meeting Nikki's gaze

"I spoke to DC Robert's fiancée. He wasn't meant to be working that night was he?"

"He chose to work that night,"

"How free was his choice?" Nikki questioned "How much did you push him into it? How much was it because of his desire to impress you? How much was it due to your obsession to solve this case?"

"My obsession?" the DI glared "Don't kid yourself Nikki. I can see right through you. I know you're using this case to distract yourself. It's like you're trying to convince yourself that solving this will bring Leo back,"

"Don't you dare say his name. Don't you dare taint his memory by using it to justify your own cause. I-"

"Everything okay in here ladies?" the two women turned to see Jack leaning in the doorway with a half-amused, half-concerned expression on his face "I brought coffee," he said gesturing to take-out container "And biscuits!"

…

"So do you want to tell me what that was about?" Jack said as he and Clarissa gathered in Nikki's office. DI Harris had declined to join them, mumbling something about needing to keep focused on the case, but Nikki had welcomed the distraction

"Nothing," Nikki shook her head taking a sip of her drink

"It didn't sound like nothing," Clarissa said

"I could hear you halfway down the corridor;" Jack smirked "Didn't think you had it in you, Doctor Alexander. From the way you were facing her, I reckon we could make a MMA fighter out of you yet,"

Nikki rolled her eyes "I think I'll leave the cave-man antics to you,"

"I heard DI Harris mentioned Leo," Clarissa said gently "That was out or order,"

"She was upset and just taking it out on me," Nikki said magnanimously "She wanted a reaction and she got one," she sighed, running a hand through her hair

"Not very professional of her," Jack frowned

"It wasn't very professional of me either," Nikki admitted "I didn't act like a good boss today,"

"You're a great leader Nikki," Clarissa assured her "Leo would be proud,"

"Leo wouldn't have snapped like that,"

Jack shook his head "He would have done though, in your situation. He would have stood up for what he believed in and pointed out that DI Harris is losing perspective,"

"Maybe you're right,"

"Of course I'm right," Jack grinned "So what do we do now boss?"

Nikki paused for a moment before speaking "We need to chase up toxicology. We all know the results but let's just get it confirmed. Keep pressing for a result on the fingerprints. I know it's difficult because they're only partial but at the moment they're our only solid lead. Also, try to get as much information as you can from the fibre we've got. This is a new lead in the investigation. I am aware you both have concerns it might be leading us towards a dead-end but we need to try anyway. Even if it turns out to be nothing, the killer changed their technique and that's got to mean something,"

"Sounds like a plan," Jack glanced across at Clarissa and shared a smile, proud at Nikki's leadership skills

"Do you think this was a deliberate attack?" Clarissa asked Nikki "Did the killer pick out DC Roberts or was DC Roberts just in the wrong place at the wrong time,"

"I'm not sure," Nikki shrugged "If the killer was trying to provoke a reaction then they've got one. But murdering a police officer is a risky act just to get a thrill,"

"But if we're still working from the hypothesis that this is about power, then it would fit. The police are authority figures, killing one of them would be a way of gaining a feeling of power more so than with the other victims. The others victims were relatively powerless. The most powerful out of all of them was the pub owner but that position in itself has limited power and authority,"

"The pub seems to be the centre of activity though," Nikki frowned "All four victims had been there before they died. That's a common connection,"

"Three were found there," Jack nodded "Car-park man, George Francis and DC Roberts. The other victim, forest-man, had come from that direction,"

"We're still assuming victims number one and two were botched jobs?" Nikki asked "Victim number one fought back and victim number two managed to temporarily get away,"

"But the killer perfected their technique with number three," Jack added

"And potentially with number four, the result of the fibre pending of course," Clarissa concluded

"There are two knives left," Nikki frowned "The killer's desire for power is increasing; Blogger-Journalists, Pub Landlord and Police Officer. What is their next move?"

…

It was dark that night. Dark and cold. It made everything seem so much more frightening. The shadows seemed to grow and reach out from everywhere. The darkness was oppressive, almost suffocating.

"I didn't think you'd show up," a voice came from out of the shadows

"You've given me little choice in the matter,"

"Oh but my dear, you always have a choice. You can choose to be my friend or my enemy,"

"I know what you did,"

"What did I do?" the voice said mockingly

"That wasn't part of the plan,"

"No?" the voice drawled "You've not been sticking to your side of the bargain either,"

"How can you know that?"

"I know everything and you'd do well to remember it. Don't think I don't know every detail of what you're doing at any point in the day,"

"Don't threaten me,"

"Oh!" the voice chuckled "Now this is a turn of events. You're getting brave now, aren't you? I'm not sure what to think of this. I'm not sure I like it. We were so close to a breakthrough,"

"I don't want to do this anymore,"

"I told you that you have a choice," the tone was threatening now "Just make sure that you make the right one,"

"Don't think I won't break my silence on this,"

"If I go down, then you will as well,"

"I have nothing to lose,"

"You always have something left to lose Molly," the voice was hard and cold now "Maybe you need a reminder of that,"

**Author's Note: Thanks for the Reviews **


	13. All The King's Horses

**Chapter 13: All the King's Horses **

Jack hated hospitals. The constant drone of noise from people moving about, occasionally punctuated by someone vomiting, the smell of disinfectant that seemed to infiltrate every pore of his body, and the oppressive feeling of being trapped in a building full of endless windowless corridors without number or end. His MMA hobby had made him a frequent visitor to the hospital and it didn't make him like them anymore.

"Hi," he said approaching the nurse's station "My name's Jack Hodgson. I'm a forensic scientist and I'm meant to be taking some samples from a patient on this ward," Jack said passing over the details

"Of course," the nurse smiled as she scanned the page "A police officer is just finishing up taking a statement but I'm sure you'll be allowed to go in afterwards. If you'd just like to take a seat,"

"Thanks," Jack nodded to the woman and sat down, pleased to have his hand relieved from the weight of carrying his kit

"Mr Hodgson, what a surprise to see you here," a voice said sarcastically and he turned to see a young man in scrubs standing before him

"Professional not personal visit, Nathan," Jack grinned at the young man. His frequent trips to the hospital had made him well-known to some of the staff

"Not been cage-fighting recently then?"

"I've been fighting," Jack said "Just getting better at winning,"

"I'll remind you of that next time I have to stich up your face and put your brains back in. So what're you here for?"

"I'm taking some samples from an assault victim. Need to do some injury analysis whilst I'm here as well,"

"Ah, you mean the patient in the side-room. Grim business that,"

"You know her?"

"Yeah, she's one of my patients. She was brought in early this morning after taking quite a beating. Police were called to the home address and found her lying in her own blood. Not a pretty sight I can tell you. They've arrested the father. They reckon he's been knocking her around for a while, poor girl. I didn't think this was quite your area though,"

"It's potentially linked to a case I'm working on," Jack informed him "A bloody messy case,"

"Aren't they always?" the young man sighed "Looks like you're up,"

Jack looked up to see DI Harris exiting the side-room. She spotted Jack and started to walk over towards him

"She looks like a ball-breaker," the young man grinned "Rather you than me"

"Thanks for coming so quickly," DI Harris said as Jack stood up

"Is she okay?" he asked

"She'll live, I think," DI Harris sighed "We've got the father in custody. But we need you to take samples and pictures. She's not talking to me, so forensic evidence is going to be key here,"

"I'll see what I can do,"

"I need results Jack," Rachel snapped at him "No "ifs" or "buts". I need solid evidence here,"

Jack fought the desire to inform her that there was very little in the way of 'solid evidence' in forensics. All evidence had to be interpreted and that left room for error. And when the police were involved, Jack found that margin for error greatly seemed to increase. However much you desired justice, you couldn't just force the evidence to fit the facts. He suddenly remembered Chrissie Reed and her tampering with his evidence to secure a conviction and anger boiled up inside of him.

"Like I said, I'll see what I can do," he said walking past her and entering the room.

She had been put in the side-room, presumably away from the prying eyes of the busy ward. Here the hustle and bustle of the hospital was muted somewhat, something Jack was grateful for. He walked over to the bed, set his kit down on the floor and took a seat in the nearby chair. The seat felt warm, and he assumed it was the position DI Harris had been in when she had been attempting to take a statement.

"Molly, I'm not sure if DI Harris told you, but I'm here to take some samples and have a quick look at your injuries, is that okay?"

"He didn't do it," Molly said quietly, she was avoiding eye contact with him. Jack wondered if she was still embarrassed as a result of their previous meeting.

Jack sighed softly as he glanced at the young woman's bruised face "It's okay Molly, you don't have to defend him,"

"He didn't do it," Molly said again "I don't want to press any charges. Therefore I don't need to make a statement and you don't need to take any samples,"

"It's not quite that simple Molly," Jack told her "Your dad's fingerprints were found on some knives that were used in the murders that have been happening around where you live. When they arrested him this time, the prints they took on his arrest confirmed this,"

"It's not true," Molly said, tears starting to form in her eyes

"I'm sorry," Jack said softly

"He didn't do it!" Molly said, louder this time.

The door suddenly clicked open, making both Jack and Molly jump "Is everything okay in here?" Nathan said popping his head around the door

"He didn't do it," Molly repeated again, tears dripping down her face and Nathan gave her a sympathetic look

"Hey," Nathan said walking over towards the bed "What did we talk about before? Try not to get too upset Molly, it's only going to make you feel worse,"

"She said he was going to go to prison. If he gets locked up then I'm going to be all on my own. I don't have anyone else…"

"She?" Jack frowned "Do you mean DI Harris?" he asked and Molly nodded "No-one's proven anything yet. The police haven't charged him yet, it hasn't gone to court and he hasn't been prosecuted. We're still gathering evidence which I why I need your help. If he is innocent like you say, then the forensic evidence I gather will back that up,"

"But you're on her side,"

"I'm not on anyone's side. I'm on my own side. Team Jack!" he grinned and Nathan rolled his eyes

"Don't let him deceive you Molly. He's actually more intelligent than he comes across," Nathan said

"So can I take the samples I need?" Jack asked again and this time Molly nodded "Good girl,"

Jack stood up and opened up his kit whilst Nathan continued gently talking to Molly, trying to keep her calm. He pulled on some latex gloves and picked up a swab. Leaning in towards her, he gently pressed the swab into a cut on her forehead to retrieve a small amount of her blood. He was planning to test it to see if any trace of Jonathan was on it. A positive result would suggest that he indeed was her attacker.

"All done here. Now I'm going to need to take a look at your injuries and take some photos. I'll be as gentle and as quick as I can, I promise," he said and she nodded.

Picking up his camera, he started to take photographs of Molly's injuries. Dark bruises littered her face and Jack could already make out what looked like a mark from a fist. Scattered across her arm, he could see finger-tip bruising where she had clearly been held down. As he took each photograph, he felt that frustration well up inside of him and he fought to keep in control.

"All done," Jack said pulling back after taking the last photograph

"See that wasn't so bad now was it?" Nathan said to Molly, who remained silent in response

"I'll leave you to get some rest now," Jack said packing up his kit

"Can I go home?" Molly said turning to Nathan

"Not quite yet," Nathan told her "The Doctor wants to check you over again. You're running a little bit of a temperature,"

"Can I go home?" Jack asked with a grin

"Please do. You're making the place look untidy," Nathan said

"I'll see you soon Molly, I'm sure," Jack said smiling at her

"I'll be back in five minutes," Nathan said to Molly as he followed Jack out of the room

"Thanks for helping me out back there," Jack said turning to Nathan

"No problem," Nathan shrugged "Just doing my job,"

"Well I better be getting on with mine," Jack said and Nathan nodded

"Whoever did that to her," Nathan said jerking his head in the direction of Molly's room "Make sure you get them,"

"I'll do my best," Jack called over his shoulder as he left the hospital

The cool fresh air hit his face and was a welcome change from the warm, stuffy air of the hospital. He walked over to his car, fumbling in his pocket for his keys. Eventually retrieving them, he glanced back up and frowned as he glanced at his car. Tucked under the wind-screen wipers he saw a folded piece of paper. Thinking it was a parking ticket at first; he hastily pulled it out and opened it.

_She died of a fever, and no one could save her. And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone_

_So Jack be nimble, Jack be quick_

_For all the king's horses and all the king's men won't help you now._

He felt a shiver creep up his spine as he glanced around the car park. It was another note, just like the one that was left in his flat. But this time, things had radically changed. In regards to the first note, Jack could quite easily understand how someone could work out his name, address and occupation. Yet the second note was different. How could anyone have known that he was visiting the hospital, let alone name who he was visiting? He had only gotten the call himself a few hours ago.

He quickly opened his case and pulled out an evidence bag, dropping the note into it, to preserve it. Shoving the bag back in his pocket, he hastily entered his car and pulled away, a mixture of fear and frustration making his driving increasingly erratic. As he drove on he started to calm down slightly, but he couldn't push the note to the back of his mind. It rustled around in his pocket, making its presence known to him every time he moved.

…

Clarissa had known there was something wrong with Jack as soon as he entered the lab His pasty Irish complexion had paled to a shade that gave him a haunted look. His skin was stretched tightly across his face, puckered with stress and he kept glancing furtively around the lab. A very different Jack had returned from the hospital to the one that had left. At first she assumed it was the case getting to him but now she was not so sure. There was something else that was bothering him. Something had gotten under his skin and clearly spooked him. That in itself was particularly worrying as she knew it took a lot to spook Jack.

"Is it Casper or Nearly-Headless Nick?" she asked

"What?" Jack said looking up from his computer

"You look like you've seen a ghost, so which one is it: Casper or Nearly-Headless Nick?"

A small smile played at the corners of the Irishman's mouth "What are you, Ghostbusters?"

"So you haven't had a sense-of-humour-ectomy then?" she said noticing his smile "I was beginning to wonder,"

"I'm still the same old Jack you love so much," he said, rolling his eyes

"That's debatable," Clarissa said sarcastically "But I know you're not fine. Deny it all you want but you know I'm right. I'm always right,"

"It's nothing,"

"Jack…" she warned

"Buy me a drink later and I might think about sharing my sorrows with you,"

"Cheapskate,"

"Tightwad,"

"Hodgson?" Jack turned around to see Nikki standing in the doorway with her arms folded

"What can I do for you Boss?" he said standing up

"Did you get the samples?" Nikki asked and Jack nodded, passing over the sealed swabs

"Here's more details on the fingerprints as well," Clarissa said sliding a piece of paper across the table

"Thanks," Nikki said retrieving the two items "This doesn't add up at all though. Not that I'm criticising either of your work. I still think Jonathan Winters is too tall to be our killer,"

"It's still circumstantial evidence though," Clarissa mused "His prints were on the knives but we have nothing that puts him at the scene of any of the murders,"

"He knew all the victims though. Two were his colleagues. Another was the landlord of a pub he frequented whom he had a very public dispute with and DC Roberts interviewed Jonathan," Jack said

"Have we got any more on that fibre?" Nikki asked

"I can confirm it's definitely not from DC Roberts. The fibre itself is a cotton-polyester blend. It's quite thick so I would suggest it's from a jumper or a hoody," Clarissa told Nikki

"We'll need to check Jonathan's clothes for something similar," Nikki nodded, deep in thought "The police sent them over already and we should also be able to test the blood on them against the sample's you took from Molly,"

"She's adamant it wasn't him," Jack shrugged

"Maybe she doesn't want to believe it," Nikki responded "But we both saw how she flinched away from him at the police station when he was arrested the first time,"

"Maybe you're right," Jack nodded "It's just there's something not siting right about this case,"

"Just concentrate on the evidence. Let that do the talking, rather than your gut instinct,"

Jack nodded and left Nikki and Clarissa deep in conversation as he went to make himself a coffee. As he reached up into the cupboard to pull out a mug, the note in his pocket rubbed against the material of his jacket, reminding him of his presence. He made a mental note to check it for fingerprints later, but if it was anything like the last note then he wasn't holding out too much hope.

He was in two minds about telling Nikki and Clarissa about this second note. They didn't seem to take his concerns too seriously the first time, making out that he was off on one of his wild theories again. He also didn't want to worry them any more than he had to. Grief still hung in the air in the Lyell Centre, and its inhabitants were still more affected by it than he cared to admit.

No. He wouldn't tell them just yet. Maybe he'd test the water with Clarissa over drinks tonight to get her perspective on it. Whether he'd take it on board was always difficult to predict when it came to Jack

…

"So Jonathan, would you care to run me through the events of last night and this morning," DI Harris said through gritted teeth, as she sat opposite him in the interview room

"I told you, I never hurt my daughter," he protested

"I asked you to run me through what happened," DI Harris said "Not deliver a verdict about your innocence,"

Jonathan sighed loudly "It's like I've told you before. I'd been drinking the night before. Molly wasn't in that night so I decided to have more than I usually do, since she wasn't there to chastise me about it. I can't remember much after that, but I must have passed out because the next thing I remember is a banging at the door. I opened my eyes just in time to see Molly lying on the floor…" his voice trailed off as a sob erupted from out of his mouth

"And that's when the police and paramedics entered," DI Harris asked and Jonathan nodded

"She was lying so still. I thought she was…"

"Well she's very much alive Mr Williams," DI Harris said "Although she's taken quite a beating from you,"

"I never touched her,"

"Why is there blood on your clothes then?" she asked

"I don't know how it got there but I never touched her," Jonathan said again

"But you were drunk. You've admitted you can't remember all the details. Is it possible that Molly returned whilst you were in your drunken state and you attacked her?"

"Why would I hurt her? I love her, she's my daughter,"

"I don't know Mr Williams, you tell me," DI Harris sighed "And you're not going anywhere until you do,"

"DI Harris may I remind you that yet again all the evidence you have so far is circumstantial," Jonathan's solicitor said

"Your point?"

"Charge him or release him in bail pending further enquiry," the solicitor sighed "Please, make your decision promptly before I put in a complaint to your superiors,"

…

Night was starting to fall now and shadows crept into the room. Molly pulled her knees tighter to her chest as she was draped in the inky darkness. The door clicked open and a beam of light spread across the floor, causing Molly to squint slightly as her eyes adjusted

"I'm off now," Nathan said from the doorway, adjusting the bag that was hanging from his shoulder "My shift has finished for today but I just wanted to check in on you before I left,"

Molly nodded silently

"Are you okay?" he asked "Are you still in pain?"

Molly shook her head

"Try and get some rest Molly," he said "I'll see you in the morning,"

Molly remained silent as Nathan left the room. Once more she was plunged back into the gloom. She slowly opened her hand and pulled out the scrunched up piece of paper that she had been carefully hiding away:

_Miss Molly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick.  
So she called for the doctor to come quick, quick, quick.  
The nurse came with his (her) bag and his hat,  
And he knocked on the door with a rat-a-tat-tat._

_I always know where you are and what you're doing Miss Molly. Don't forget that. Remember what I told you. What you promised me. What you __owe__ me._

Molly stared out of the window into the gloomy night, gently fiddling with the piece of paper in her hand. Little realising that twenty miles away in a small pub, Jack Hodgson was doing the same.

**Author's Note: Thanks for the Reviews **


	14. You're a Psychiatrist's Field Day

**Chapter 14: You're a Psychiatrist's Field Day**

Despite being a busy night, Jack and Clarissa had managed to procure a table in a fairly quiet corner of the pub. It had taken the promise of a free pint, which the Irishman was moodily staring in to, to coax Jack out. But now he was here, Clarissa was determined to get to the bottom of what was bothering him.

"Nothing," was the gloomily spoken response to her question

"Yeah right," she shook her head "This is me you're talking to Jack. I can read you like a book remember,"

He sighed and glanced up from his pint "It's complicated,"

"It always is with you Jack," she chided gently "You don't have pretend everything is okay when you're around me Jack. You don't have anything to prove to me,"

"You won't understand," he said poking at his pint glass

"Try me," she said firmly

"I got another one of those notes," he said avoiding eye contact with Clarissa "Like the one that was left in my flat when some arsehole trashed it,"

"Are you sure it's from the same person?" she asked calmly

"As sure as I can be," Jack replied

"It's probably just someone messing with you Jack," Clarissa theorised

"Who would do that though?"

"Well if it's someone you've pissed off, then we've got a long list of people," Clarissa quipped and Jack rolled his eyes in response

"I'm serious," he protested

"So I am," she assured him "Jack I think you're reading too much into this. When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

"I sleep perfectly well," Jack lied

"Don't think I haven't noticed the dark circles under both your and Nikki's eyes. Circles that have been there ever since Afghanistan,"

"I'm dealing it okay?" Jack snapped

"But it doesn't have to be okay Jack. You saw your friend die in front of your eyes. You don't have to pretend everything I fine,"

"Yes I do," Jack protested "I have to pretend everything is okay because right now everything really isn't. We're working on a case with very few leads. We've not got enough resources thanks to the budget cuts and we haven't got enough manpower now we're down one pathologist. And now I have some psycho leaving me notes everywhere,"

"Jack, have you ever thought about getting professional help?" Clarissa asked "Maybe counselling would help?"

Jack scoffed "I don't need anyone getting in my head,"

"Fair enough," she shrugged "I suppose you have a point. If we got you in the room with one they'd never let you out. You're a psychiatrist's field day!"

"Thanks," he said sarcastically

"Go home Jack. Get a good night's sleep and in the morning you'll hopefully see things a bit clearer," she said firmly and he nodded in response, knowing he was beaten when it came to Clarissa.

…

Jack tossed and turned in bed, the sheets getting ever more knotted around his muscular form. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead as he struggled in the grips of yet another nightmare. He was remembering. The hot Afghanistan sun. The force of the explosion. Holding Nikki tightly as she screamed in anguish. The ringing in his ears from the explosion and then silence.

As the dust settled they saw what they already knew deep in their hearts had happened. They saw Leo lying there in the floor.

At least, what was left of Leo.

He jolted wide awake, breathing heavily. The luminous dial of his clock told his it was still early in the morning and he groaned loudly. Stretching over to his bedside table, he groped for a small plastic bottle. His GP had prescribed him some sleeping pills soon after he had gotten home from Afghanistan but he hadn't taken any yet.

But Clarissa was right; he needed a good night's sleep. So, reluctantly he swallowed the pills with the gulp of water and lay back on the damp pillow, waiting for the pills to kick in.

His eye lids began to feel heavily and eventually he slipped back into a fitful sleep.

…

"Morning everyone," Jack's cheery voice called through the lab as he hurtled through it, slightly, late for work again

"You're late," Nikki frowned at him, glancing at the clock

"Sorry," he grinned "I brought coffee though," he said holding up the take-out tray

"Caffeine equates to forgiveness," Nikki smiled as she carefully took one of the cups out of the tray "Thanks,"

"You seem brighter today," Clarissa told him as she took her coffee from Jack

"I took your advice," Jack shrugged "Turns out you were right,"

"Of course I am," she smiled at him "I always am,"

"Jonathan Williams has been released on bail pending further enquiry," Nikki informed Jack as he logged on to his computer "They didn't have enough to hold him in custody,"

"What about the assault on his daughter?" Jack asked scanning his email "The results show her blood was on his clothes,"

"She doesn't want to press charges;" Nikki shrugged "She's still adamant it wasn't him. The police seem to be focusing on the murder case anyway,"

"She was released from hospital this morning though," Clarissa told him

"No doubt back to her father," Jack said shaking his head "She's got no one else and nowhere else to go,"

"You can't save everyone Jack," Nikki said, painfully aware of her own hypocrisy in saying those words "Focus on what you can help with. There's a new case that's come in and I want you to work on that today,"

"What about these murders?" he asked

"We've done all we can so far. Until the police give us new leads then there's very little we can do," Nikki told him "On the other hand, there's been a break in at a warehouse and the police want you down there to recover any evidence you can,"

"Sounds fascinating," he sighed "I'll spend the day crawling around on my hands and knees,"

"Exactly where you belong," Nikki teased "Now off to work," she said passing him the details

…

The case had turned out to be exactly as he suspected: an open and shut robbery, with evidence easily collected from grubbing around on the floor for a couple of hours, as directed by a particularly grumpy DI.

After heading back to the lab, processing the samples and filling in the paperwork, his shift was over and he left the lab for his flat. He had been looking forward to relaxing but Nikki had changed the work rotas which meant he was on-call tonight. Jack had headed home in the hope of been able to grab a bite to eat and relax for a short time, before he was inevitably pulled back into the inky darkness of the night to attend another crime scene.

He shuffled into his kitchen, dropping his bag and jacket in the doorway. Pulling a ready meal out of the fridge, he stuck it in the microwave and slumped down into one of the kitchen chairs.

No sooner had he sat down than his mobile rang out, groaning to himself he reached across the table.

"Jack Hodgson," he said

"Jack, it's Nikki," a familiar voice reached his ear, just as the microwave announced his food was ready

"What can I do for you, boss?" Jack said as he got up to remove his dinner from the microwave

"I've been called out to a scene. We're going to need forensics here,"

"Of course you are," Jack said "Just as I was about to have something to eat,"

"Sorry," Nikki apologised "But I think you really need to be here Jack,"

"Can't cope without my expertise?"

"It's about the victim Jack," Nikki told him "It's Jonathan Williams,"

**Author's' Note: Sorry for the delay and the shorter chapter but things will pick up again soon, I promise. **


	15. Back to Square One

**Chapter 15: Back to Square One**

As Jack drove up the dirt track, he could already see a multitude of people outside of the house. The night was overcast by the lights from all the vehicles stationed around provided more than enough light to illuminate the scene. He pulled up behind a police car and grabbing his kit he started to make his way towards the house, flashing his ID badge at the officer on the cordon tape as he ducked underneath it.

He spotted Nikki by the front door of the house and made his way over to her. Her body language was tense and he could see the strain on her face, even though she tried to hide it by flashing him a small smile as a greeting

"Sorry to call you out on your night off," she said again but Jack waved her apologies off. As soon as he had heard who the victim was, all thoughts of dinner and relaxation had been ejected from his mind.

"What do we know so far?" he asked as they made their way into the house, noting that from his initial observation of the doorway there seemed to be no sign of forced entry

"Not a lot," Nikki shook her head "Just the name of the victim, although we'll need official identification of course,"

"I assume we're treating this as suspicious?" Jack asked and Nikki murmured in confirmation

As they walked through the hallway Jack noted that the inside of the house was as dilapidated as the outside. The wallpaper was peeling and the carpet was thread-bare in places. The house was old and the floorboards and rafters seemed to creak in conversation with each other as Nikki and Jack made their way through the house. They stopped outside of a room and Nikki nodded her head slightly, gesturing that the body was in there.

He ducked through the low doorway into what seemed to be a study. The room seemed fairly spacious lined with overflowing bookcase. The peeling wallpaper had been covered up by various yellowing newspaper clippings, most of which seemed to report on alien abductions. He noticed a stack of magazines in the corner of the room, which he recognised immediately as 'The Underground', Jonathan's publication and just in front of the pile, was the body of the man himself.

Jonathan lay sprawled out on the floor which was stained with red. The heavy smell in the air confirmed to Jack that the red was indeed blood. His eyes were shut and his mouth was closed. He could have been mistaken for being asleep if it hadn't been for all the blood. A knife lay beside him, neatly placed perpendicular to his body which was covered with a sheet, almost as if someone had tucked him in for the night. Yet this was one slumber Jonathan Williams would not awaken from.

"Was he found like this?" Jack turned to ask one of the police officers lingering in the doorway

"Yeah," the officer nodded

"I haven't had a chance to examine the body," Nikki told him "I called you as soon as I saw who we were dealing with,"

"Who called it in?" Jack asked

"The daughter," the officer informed him "Mary…Milly…" he fumbled for a name

"Molly," Jack said quietly "Her name is Molly. Where is she?"

"In the living room," the officer said "You're going to need to come and process her. She's covered in blood. She probably slipped in it,"

"You mean you don't know?" Jack frowned "Haven't you asked her?"

"She won't speak to anyone. She's completely incommunicado. The DI thinks she's in shock or something,"

"That's why I called you Jack," Nikki told him "It might help seeing a familiar face,"

"Okay," he nodded making his way out of the room

"Just," Nikki began "Don't get too emotionally involved Jack. Remember what I said about keeping perspective,"

He nodded and made his way back out into the hallway and into the living room. This room was as shabby as the others but with more of a cosy feel about it. Squashy chairs and a comfortable looking sofa were in the centre of the room, which too was lined with shelves upon shelves of books and old newspapers.

A small fire had been lit in the fireplace but was now burning low, giving the room a soft orangey glow, in a weak attempt to push back to the darkening night. On the mantelpiece of the fireplace stood a collection of framed photographs, some of which he recognised as younger versions of Molly, others depicted a similar looking woman whom Jack assumed to be Molly's mother.

And curled up in one of the chairs, knees brought up to her chest, was Molly.

A female police officer was attempting to soothe her but to no avail. Molly simply was not responding to any words or gestures the officer made. She had shut down and retreated into herself. The officer looked up and noticed Jack. Recognising his blue forensic suit, she moved Jack to let him work.

He set his kit down on the floor and crouched down on the floor.

"Molly," he said gently, expecting and receiving no response "It's Jack,"

Still she said nothing. He head was buried deep in her knees and she made no indication she was even aware of his presence

"This nice man has come to take some samples from you," the female officer said patronizingly and Jack was almost certain he heard a quiet snort of derision coming from Molly and he seized upon this break in her barriers

"Could you get her a glass of water?" Jack asked the officer, flashing his most charming smile "It might help calm her down,"

"Sure," the officer said and Jack was sure he could see a faint blush in her cheeks

When she had gone, Jack turned back to Molly "She's gone," he said gently "It's just me and now Molly,"

She slowly started to unravel herself and looked up at Jack. The bruising on her face from the beating she had taken had started to come out and her face was blotched with angry purple bruises.

"I'm really sorry Molly," Jack said sympathetically "You don't deserve any of this to happen to you,"

"You don't know what I deserve," she said, her voice barely above a whisper "You don't know me. You don't know what I've done,"

"I-" Jack began but was cut off by the female officer entering the room once more with the glass of water

Molly meanwhile had tucked her head back into her knees as if she had never moved. Leaving Jack wondering whether he had actually heard her speak or not

…

Back in the study, DI Harris had joined Nikki and was watching the pathologist as she worked.

"Murder or suicide?" the detective asked nodding towards the body

"Too early to say," Nikki informed her "I can't even tell you if the stab wound was the cause of death yet,"

"Isn't it obvious?" Rachel asked

Nikki shook her head "The knife," she said gesturing "Is the same one used in the murders we've been investigating. Therefore I can't rule out that he might have died due to ingesting _belladonna_,"

"I need your report as soon as possible," Rachel told Nikki "He was our only lead. I'm not letting this case go cold,"

"Maybe you already have," Nikki said sharply "If he did commit suicide. You might want to question why,"

"Are you insinuating something?" DI Harris said crossly

Nikki stared her boldly in the eye "I'm just saying Detective, that if he did commit suicide then the stress of being under police of investigation during the period surrounding the anniversary of his wife's death may have been a contributing factor,"

"Stick to the medical side of things Doctor Alexander, not the amateur psychology," Rachel said leaving the room before Nikki could reply

…

Jack had eventually managed to coax Molly into allowing him to take photos of her bloody clothes. She was still uncommunicative and although she followed his commands, she seemed distant. Her gaze was not focused on the present but had drifted off into some unknown, but undoubtedly, painful memories

"All done here," he said pulling the camera away "I'm going to need your clothes though Molly," he said apologetically

"Here's something for you to change in to," the female officer said passing her a white paper suit

"I'll give you some privacy," Jack said leaving the room briefly, giving Molly a reassuring smile as he left

…

"How're things looking here?" Jack asked when he re-joined Nikki in the study, DI Harris having left Nikki alone to attend to other police business.

"Not much to go on at the moment," Nikki told him "I'll know more at the post-mortem hopefully. So far I can tell you that he's been dead for around three hours. There's a stab wound to the stomach that seems consistent with the knife found next to him,"

"So it seems the same as the other murders so far?"

Nikki shrugged "Too early to say. If it is, then the covering of the victim with the sheet is a new aspect of the MO. The other bodies were left uncovered. This death shows what the murder manual refers to as 'care and consideration'," she quoted

"Still, we can't rule out suicide can we?" Jack asked and Nikki shook her head

"I can't tell if DI Harris wants it to be suicide or murder. If its suicide then it fits in with her theory of Jonathan as the murderer, but then it also partially lays the blame on her, given that she was pursuing him. However, if it's murder then it exonerates her of any blame but disproves her murder theory and then she's back to square one with no suspects," Nikki said as she continued her examination

"Either way, the result is still the same for Molly," Jack said "Her dad is dead," he said bluntly

"Hopefully we can spare her the pain of having her father posthumously criminalised," Nikki said "I still don't believe he did it. It's a gut feeling, but I don't think he's our killer,"

"I thought science didn't feel?" Jack smirked repeating Nikki's words she had spoken to him on their first case and she rolled her eyes in response

"Do you need anything more from the body?" she asked

He shook his head "I'm happy for it to be moved if you are. I've also taken photos of the blood on Molly's clothes and have bagged them for evidence and I've taken a DNA sample from her to help eliminate any DNA profiles we know from the unknown,"

"Great," Nikki smiled as she got to her feet and pulled off her gloves "I guess we're done here for now," she as they made their way out of the house "But for Molly it just seems to be beginning," she said sadly

They were almost at their cars when they noticed the female police officer who had been keeping an eye on Molly standing a short way away from them and she gave them a tired smile as they approached

"Where's your charge?" Jack asked as he packed his kit away

"Over there," the officer gestured and the scientists looked at where she was pointing to see Molly perched on a nearby fence apparently deep in conversation with a cow in the adjoining field "I'm not sure she's okay though,"

"I think that this is quite normal behaviour for Molly," Jack reassured her

Molly's figure was half concealed by the darkness and half obscured out by the lights from the emergency services vehicles. She was far enough away from the hustle and bustle to find some momentary peace. And at least from this distance, they couldn't see her cry.

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews!**


	16. Bleeding Heart

**Chapter 16 : Bleeding Heart **

Ella White was, in no particular order: 32, a grade 6 pianist, a heavy smoker and having an affair with her sister's husband. But today, first and foremost she was the Family Liaison Officer assigned to a recent murder case. Ella was currently sitting on a chair in the draughty corridors of the Thomas Lyell Centre mortuary. A heavy silence hung in the air only occasionally broken by a beeping as someone emerged from the glass doors and scuttled off down another dark corridors clutching at a stack of papers.

Ella tossed aside the dog-eared magazine she'd been reading. Someone had laid a selection out on the small table in front of them. The selection was pretty sparse and no different to the publications one would find in any reception waiting room. Glossy women stared out at her, beaming smiles accompanying promises of how to lose those stubborn five pounds or make the perfect soufflé. They were quite the contrast to the morose looking girl sitting in front of her.

Ella wrinkled her nose as she inspected the girl. Her lank hair was pulled off her face into a bun that was most unbecoming to her. The thick glasses she was wearing made her eyes bulge out in an insect-like manner and her pasty complexion made her look positively unwell. Those characteristics on their own did little to compliment her overall appearance and the effect was heightened by the myriad of bruises that littered the girl's face. Ella remembered what she'd been told about the recent assault and from as far as she could tell they were right about it being a vicious one.

The girl's right eye was encircled by an angry looking purple bruise which covered most of her eye socket. A deep gash stretched across her forehead and was accentuated by yet more bruises. Her nose was swollen and perched on top of it were those thick glasses held together at the bridge, by some tape. Ella wondered why the girl hadn't used some concealer to cover the bruises up, but judging from her appearance Ella wasn't sure if she knew even the first thing about make-up.

But what was most unnerving about the girl was the silence. From the moment they had met she hadn't uttered a single word or even made any acknowledgement Ella was there. Of course, Ella was used to this kind of behaviour. Grief made people shut down, that was well-documented. Yet, this silence was just uncomfortable.

"Here," Ella said tossing a magazine in the girl's lap "Read this,"

The girl made no movement and the glossy magazine slid off her lap and fell to the floor.

Ella sighed loudly "I know you're upset Molly, but you could at least pretend to be social," she said as she retrieved the magazine from the floor.

A beeping noise interrupted further attempts at conversation as the glass door once more opened and they were met with the sight of blonde, well-dressed woman. The blonde made her way over to the pair, her heels clicking softly on the floor and gave them a professional smile.

"Doctor Nikki Alexander," she said extending her hand to Ella "I'm the pathologist working on the case,"

"Ella White," Ella nodded standing up "I'm the Family Liaison Office," she said and glancing over her shoulder "And that's Molly Williams,"

"We've met before," Nikki smiled softly at Molly, who was still yet to make any acknowledgment of the humans before her

"Right," Ella said looking slightly put out at this new piece of information she had not previously been aware of

Nikki stepped around Ella and took up her previous position next to Molly. At once Nikki noticed the girl's red eyes and pale complexion. She had seen those signs of grief too many times in her life: both professionally and personally. Nikki softly touched Molly's hand to gain her attention and was shocked at the coolness that met her own warmth.

"You know why you're here today Molly?" Nikki asked

"I've already informed her that she need to formally identify the deceased in order for this case to progress," Ella said

Nikki frowned at the officer's language and turned back to Molly "Not just that," she said softly "It's also a chance for you to say goodbye to your father. Now I won't lie to you Molly, this won't be an easy thing to do but it will help,"

Ella's phone rang out and she sighed, pulling the device out of her pocket. Glancing down at the device she gestured to Nikki that she needed to take the call and stalked off down the corridor.

"Where's Jack?" Molly asked suddenly breaking her silence when she was sure she wouldn't be heard

Nikki frowned as she tried to work out the reasons behind the question asked "He's busy working on something else at the moment. I'm sure if he was free he'd come to say hello but this isn't really his area you see. He's a forensic scientist and deals with collecting evidence and I'm the pathologist who deal with the bodies,"

Molly nodded and turned her gaze back towards the floor. Nikki was sure she saw an emotion flicker across the girl's features but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Frustration?

Disappointment?

Longing?

"Right are we ready to get started?" Ella said as she returned and when Nikki glanced back at Molly, all trace of emotion had once more vanished.

…

"So what do you think?"

Nikki was drawn out of her thoughts and she turned to glance at Ella. They two of them were standing outside the room where Molly was with her father's body. The formal identification had been made; a brief nod of the head from Molly had made them whole thing official.

Jonathan Williams was dead.

"About what?" Nikki asked

"Her," Ella said gesturing with her head "My Boss thinks she's got psychiatric problems,"

"I assume your Boss is DI Harris?" Nikki questioned and Ella nodded "Well, I wouldn't want to speculate on Molly's state of mind. I'm a pathologist not a psychiatrist but I can tell you that she's probably just grieving at the moment,"

Ella just shrugged and turned back to watching Molly.

"Where's she staying?" Nikki asked suddenly

"What's it to you?"

"I'm concerned for her welfare that's all," Nikki said softly

"In a bed and breakfast in the nearby village,"

"She's staying alone?" Nikki said looking shocked "Hasn't she got any other family she could be staying with. A friend perhaps?"

Ella sighed loudly "I was warned about your type," she said shaking her head

"My type?" Nikki frowned

"Bleeding heart," Ella wrinkled her nose "Emotionally overinvolved. You just can't help yourself can you?"

For not the first time in her career, Nikki seriously considered committing murder and falsifying the post-mortem report to make it look like an accident

…

"Do you think I'm a bleeding heart?" Nikki asked later as she sat in her office, mulling over the events of the day

"I hope not," Jack grinned "Because neither of us are qualified to perform heart surgery," he said gesturing to Clarissa

Clarissa rolled her eyes "Who said you were?" she asked ignoring Jack

"Ella White. The FLO attached to the case," Nikki frowned slightly "She seems to be in the same league as DI Harris in terms of having tunnel vision in regards to this case,"

"Molly came to identify the body then?" Jack asked and Nikki nodded "How did she take it?"

"Quietly," Nikki said and Jack nodded sympathetically "Of course, I show concern for her and I get accused of being emotionally over-involved,"

"Don't let them get to you," Clarissa advised "You're a good pathologist and a person. Those things are not bad traits,"

"You're just a big softy under that cool detached exterior, aren't you boss?" Jack grinned and Nikki leaned across to slap him on the arm, dislodging the post-mortem report in the process

"You cause that," Nikki told Jack who held his hands up in defence

"Is that Jonathan William's post-mortem report?" Clarissa asked as Nikki gathered up the loose pages

"Yes. I finished it this afternoon," Nikki told her "The results were as you might expect. The knife we found does match the stab wound and there is _belladonna_ in his blood as well as alcohol,"

"I sense you're holding something back on us," Jack frowned

"He didn't die from the stab wound. That was done pos- mortem,"

"Really?" Clarissa said raising an eyebrow

Nikki nodded "He died from an overdose of belladonna,"

"I thought out killer sedated them first then stabbed them," Jack frowned

Nikki shrugged "A change in MO?"

"He was covered in a sheet wasn't he?" Clarissa asked and was met with confirmation from her colleagues "That suggests care and concern. Something that wasn't shown with the other victims,"

"That stab wound was definitely not self-inflicted," Nikki said "I can't prove the belladonna wasn't either but I can't imagine why someone would ingest it willingly,"

"I suppose it proves your hypothesis that Jonathan wasn't the murderer," Clarissa said "Albeit in the worst possible way," she said glumly

"So where do we go from here?" Jack asked "We've got five victims who all died in similar circumstances but the one man who seemed to link them all together has now died,"

"Maybe there's another link," Nikki shrugged "These are not random killings. Are killer has always been trying to communicate something with us, playing games,"

"All the victims are male. Our killer is of smaller stature and given their MO, possibly physically weak," Jack theorised "But they get a thrill from this, it makes them feel strong and powerful. That's why DC Roberts was killed; he's a figure of authority,"

"But Jonathan was just an unknown writer for some virtually unread magazine. That hardly fits in with your theory," Clarissa reasoned and Jack slumped back in his chair frustrated

"This case is going nowhere," he grimaced

"I vote that we call it a night and come back bright and early tomorrow to look over everything that we've got so far," Nikki told them "We must be missing something, but what?"

…

Despite Nikki's plans, Clarissa had stayed on that evening. She didn't mind working late and it was necessary if she was going to chase up some of the results on the tests she had run. There had been a delay at one of the other labs and Clarissa had spent the best part of the day chasing them up.

A beeping from her computer alerted her to a new email. Tapping away at the keyboard she scanned the document.

Her eyes grew wide as she took in the information; she could hardly believe what she was reading.

It must be wrong. It couldn't be.

Could it?

**Author's Note: Sorry for the lack of updates, I really suck. But it would be nice to know if anyone is still reading this **


	17. Not in Your Job Description Part 1

**Chapter 17: Not in Your Job Description Part 1**

Jack had meant to be on time for work that morning. He had started his day on time with a coffee, a shower and some relatively clean clothes. But then he had hit a traffic jam on the motorway which delayed him for forty minutes. This in turn had caused him to skip his morning coffee and bacon sandwich from the café across the road from the Lyell Centre. As such, he was not in a particularly good mood by the time he finally reached his workplace.

He had braced himself for a telling-off from Nikki but was surprised when it didn't come. In fact, the lab was empty. He placed his bag down on his desk and shrugged off his jacket, throwing it on the back of his chair, with a frown on his face as he pondered why the lab seemed like the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse.

He trudged down the corridor in search of his absent colleagues and soon found Nikki and Clarissa in the former's office, heads close together as they spoke in hushed tones. If Jack strained he could pick up snatches of the conversation.

"…wont react well to it,"

"Are you sure?"

"I've double checked…"

Unable to keep his curiosity in check for a moment longer he knocked on the door loudly, causing Nikki and Clarissa to pull back in shock. Nikki quickly rearranged her facial features and a warm smile spread across her face as she beckoned for him to enter

"Don't stop on my account," Jack said referencing the halted conversation "I can do girl-talk if you want. I'm a thoroughly modern man," he said with a grin

Nikki chose to ignore his comment and instead admonished him for his lateness.

"Traffic," he held up is hands in both defence and apology

"Don't let it happen again," Nikki told him curtly

"Sure thing Boss," he said "So what have we got on for today?"

"The serial murders still take precedence. That was what Clarissa and I were talking about," Nikki informed him

"Have there been any new developments?" he asked

Nikki and Clarissa passed worried looks between each other. The pathologist briefly closed her eyes and let out a short breath before nodding at Clarissa.

"There have been some new developments," she told him

"Great," he said enthusiastically "Well come on, spill the beans genius," he encouraged, eager to hear the new information

"We've found out who the fibre found on DC Robert's body belongs to," Clarissa said

"Who?"

"Molly Williams," Clarissa said softly

…

Weak sunlight streamed in though the cheap curtains, waking Molly up. Screwing up her face she sat up in bed and glanced around at her surroundings, slightly disorientated and logy from her slumber.

She was in a cheaply decorated impersonal room located in the nearby village's Bed and Breakfast. The walls were a dingy shade of grey which matched the bed sheets that were currently wrapped around her body. The floor was thinly carpeted in a complimentary dull colour which was dappled with stains that Molly didn't want to dwell on for too long.

She glanced out of the window, frowning slightly as the sun disappeared back under a sheath of ominous looking rain clouds. From her vantage point she could just see the edge of the woodland which her house backed on to. If she closed her eyes she could almost smell the rich earthy scent and feel the breeze from the trees whip around her. It was better than trying to visualise the dull room she was in.

A clattering in the corridor caused her to jump slightly and as her concentration broke, so did the mental picture she was trying to create. Sighing softly to herself Molly scrapped back her loose hair into a bun and pulled on some clothes before sitting back down again. The feeling in the pit of her stomach was back again. It was an old feeling and not entirely unfamiliar, if entirely unpleasant. It was not something she often thought about but the events of the last few days had pushed it to the forefront of her mind,

Molly Williams wanted her mum.

A harsh rapping on wood brought her back to reality and she pushed those thoughts back into the depths of her mind. She smoothed her clothes and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. This is what she had been waiting for.

The moment had finally come.

Standing up she walked across the carpet, avoiding a sinister looking stain and grabbed hold of the door handle. She closed her eyes briefly and tried to remember everything her father had taught her and hoped that it would pay off.

She wrenched open the door and boldly stared into the face of her visitor

"Good morning DI Harris. What an expected pleasure,"

…

"Molly Williams?" Jack asked "What about her?"

"She's the owner of the hoodie that the fibre comes from. But even more than that, her fingerprints are all over the knives used in the murders,"

"But I thought the prints belonged to Jonathan?" Jack frowned

"We only had partial prints and so the database matched them the best it could. But as you know Jack, general patterns are passed down from parent to child. We took Molly's fingerprints for elimination purposes and hers are a match just like his. They're also on the knife that was used to kill her father," Clarissa explained as she watched Jack's face fall at this new information

"There must be some mistake," he said sceptically

"I double checked it," Clarissa said passing over the piece of paper containing the empirical evidence "Her fingerprints are a match and you know the evidence doesn't lie,"

"I'm sorry Jack," Nikki said quietly "I know you've bonded with her but-"

Nikki was interrupted by Jack loudly scrapping back his chair "There must be some mistake," he repeated "I need to go over the evidence again," he said as he dashed out of the room

"It's too late Jack. DI Harris has…" Nikki called after him but he was already too far away to hear her "Well he took that better than I expected him to," Nikki said turning back to Clarissa

Clarissa shook her head "This is just the calm before the storm," she said with a concerned look upon her face as she watched Jack furiously type away at his computer

…

"Do you understand why you're here Molly?" DI Harris asked

Molly wriggled uncomfortably in the handcuffs "Are these really necessary?"

"You didn't answer my question," DI Harris said

"You didn't answer mine," Molly retorted

DI Harris sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose; as the old saying went: like father like daughter. She nodded to the police officer who released Molly from the handcuffs. The young woman rubbed at her wrists and inspected the red marks that cut into her skin.

"So Molly," DI Harris continued "Do you know why you're here?"

"Of course," Molly said not looking up from her wrists "You've arrested me on suspicion of murder," she said

"Good," DI Harris nodded

"You're wasting your time," Molly said calmly "The real suspect is still out there,"

DI Harris raised her eyebrows "And who is that exactly?"

Molly made her eyes go wide and pointed up at the ceiling "The aliens of course,"

…

Jack was still pouring over the evidence when the phone rang. He ignored it at first, just as he had ignored everyone and everything else that day: from the lab tech trying to get him to fill in his paperwork to the coffee Clarissa made him which was now going cold on his desk.

But the caller was insistent and eventually Jack slammed down the pen he was writing with and picked up the phone.

"Jack Hodgson," he spoke angrily into the phone, annoyed at the interruption

"It's DI Harris," the sharp tones came down the line "I need you to come down to the station,"

"I'm a little busy right now," he snapped

"I've got Molly William in custody and-"

"-What!" Jack interrupted

"We arrested her on suspicion of murder this morning," DI Harris told him "I thought you'd been informed about that,"

"Obviously not," Jack said as he cast his gaze at Nikki's office with a frown upon his face.

_Why hadn't she told him?_

"Anyway I've been trying to interview her but all I'm getting out of her is some nonsense about aliens. I know you bonded with her so I need you to sit in one the interview with me. You can help make sure I get the science right and hopefully your presence will get her to open up,"

"Last time I checked that wasn't part of my job description," Jack frowned "And I know how much you like people to stick to their jobs," he said reminding her of the heated words passed between them previously

"Just get down here," she snapped

"Why should I?"

"If you want the truth, this case is hanging on the forensics so it's in your interests to make sure I don't mess it up,"

Jack pondered what she was saying for a moment before speaking "Fine," he said curtly "I'll be there as soon as I can," and with that he slammed the phone down before DI Harris could reply

Standing up he grabbed his jacket and slung it over his shoulder. As he made his way out of the lab, Nikki poked her head out of her office

"Where are you off to?" she asked "Not skiving I hope?"

He forced a smile onto his face "Coffee run,"

"But Clarissa made you one earlier,"

"It has gone cold," he shrugged "I'll bring you back a muffin if you let me go,"

"You better not be lying about the muffin," she said with a grin

He shook his head "I'm not lying. No secrets between us are there Nikki?" he said staring her hard in the eye

Nikki watched him as he passed through the glass doors. There was something odd about his tone and his behaviour seemed furtive even for Jack. She made a mental note to mention it to Clarissa later. But for now she was content to go back to her e-mails and wait for said promised muffin to arrive.

She sincerely hoped that was all that Jack would bring back with him.

…

Molly's stomach rumbled loudly in the dingy room and she started to realise how ravenous she was feeling. She tried to remember that last time she had eaten but it was beyond her recall. She'd been working so hard on getting her article finished that nutrition had been one of the last things on her mind. That was a trait she shared with her father: when absorbed in something, the whole world seemed not to matter.

She wished she could block out the world now. The room she was in was not an improvement from the Bed and Breakfast she had woken up in that morning. Now she was in police interview room sat on an uncomfortable chair as she stared at the two empty seats across from her. To her left sat her greying solicitor who had muttered a few words to her but now was absorbed in filling in some paperwork.

DI Harris had called for them to take a break, leaving Molly alone with her thoughts for the time being. Suddenly, DI Harris popped her head back around the door and gestured for the solicitor to come out into the corridor. She rested arms on the table and buried her head away from the prying eyes of the room she was being surveyed.

"Is this a new method you've got for trying to contact the aliens?" a familiar Irish lilt made her jolt her head back up. She ignored the crick in her neck as she stared at the newcomer

"Jack?"

…

"Jack's been gone a whole hasn't he?" Nikki said as she sat down next to Clarissa

Clarissa pulled back from the microscope she'd been using and glanced at the clock "Maybe he's taking an extended lunch break?"

"Maybe he's taking the piss," Nikki said and Clarissa smirked "He went out in a rush and was behaving rather oddly,"

"How so?"

Nikki shrugged "I can't really explain it, but he seemed quite agitated to me,"

Clarissa frowned. She knew that an agitated Jack was bad news. Moving over to his desk she glanced over the contents to decipher what he had been doing before he abruptly left.

His desk was cluttered with various bits and paper all of which had Jack's familiar scrawl all over them. He had been going over the evidence once more, and judging by the increased franticness of his handwriting, was getting nowhere. She picked up his phone and checked to see the last number called.

"DI Harris?" she muttered to herself pressed the phone back down in the handset with a click.

…

_Click _

The tape player was switched back on and DI Harris took her place opposite Molly "Interview resumed at 11:29am. Also present in the room is Mr Jack Hodgson with the agreement of Molly Williams and Solicitor David Thomas,"

DI Harris took a moment to compose herself before beginning her inquisition. She took a deep breath and stared her suspect hard in the eye.

"Miss Williams, cold you take me through your movements on the night of your father's murder?"

Molly looked up from her hands and began to speak. She spoke relatively quietly but there was a certain strength behind her low tones. She answered the questions as directed to her by DI Harris but addressed them to Jack. She did not break her gaze from the Irishman and appeared to ignore everyone else in the room.

"I had been released from the hospital that afternoon. I walked home up the lane stopping momentarily to talk to the cows,"

"I'm sorry?" DI Harris said looking up with a bemused expression on her face "You were talking to the cows?"

"I am working on an article discussing the relationship between ley lines and the amount of milk cows produce," Molly explained vaguely "After my conversation, I continued home with no more detours,"

"Was your father home?"

"No," Molly shook her head "No one was home. I was feeling tired so I went to bed. I must have slept for four or five hours because when I woke up again it was dark. The house was quiet so I went looking for my father. That was when I found him in his study,"

"Was he alive?"

"No he was dead," Molly said softly and Jack watched as Molly swallowed hard and blinked away tears "I called the police and the rest you know,"

DI Harris studied Molly for a moment before continuing "Miss Williams, post-mortem reports reveal that your father died from an overdose of belladonna although he also sustained a stab wound to his stomach post-mortem. We recovered the weapon and found your fingerprints upon it,"

"I see," Molly said slowly, still not breaking her gaze from Jack

"This is what I think happened," DI Harris continued "You did come home and go to bed as you said. When you woke up, you did go looking for your father but found his very much alive and drunk. He threatened to knock you about again but this time you had enough. So when his back was turned, you slipped the belladonna into his drink and watched as he died from the overdose. But that wasn't enough for you. You wanted to punish him for all those violent beatings and so you took a knife from the kitchen and plunged it into his chest as a final insult to him,"

DI Harris sat back triumphantly and watched Molly carefully for any reaction "Miss Williams, it is my belief that you killed your father and then set the scene up to make it seem someone else was the perpetrator,"

"As I told you before, the real suspect is still out there," Molly said slowly

"Well until E.T. comes home, you remain the primary suspect. I suggest you start telling me the truth right now," DI Harris snapped and was reprimanded by a stern look from Jack

"Molly," Jack began slowly "When you found your father did you attempt to resuscitate him?"

Molly shook her head "I could see that he was dead. There was so much blood," she said "Too much blood…" her sentence drifted off and a strained look puckered her features

"Where was the knife?"

"On the floor next to him,"

"Did you touch it?" Jack asked

Molly shook her head "I left the room to call the police,"

"How do you explain your fingerprints on the knife then?"

"I don't know," Molly said "I haven't seen that knife before,"

"They are readily available in your local village,"

"Thank you for the shopping tip," Molly said sarcastically "I must check that out sometime,"

"The fingerprints were undisturbed," Jack told her "That suggests you and you alone touched the knife,"

"I don't know how my fingerprints got on the knife. Someone must have-" Molly said and then paused suddenly. She closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath before continuing. "-I don't know how they got there," she corrected herself

"I do," DI Harris said firmly "My previous theory stands in relation to your father. He made you feel powerless and so murdering him not only stopped the abuse but gave you a high,"

"My father didn't abuse me," Molly said "He-"

"-Will you let me finish," DI Harris interrupted and Molly fell silent "It was that feeling of powerlessness that also led you to murder Alan Jones, Richard, George Francis and DC Roberts,"

"DI Harris, I hope you have the evidence to back up your accusations," the solicitor said

"Oh I do," she said smugly "It all boils down to the forensics,"

**Author's Note: Sorry for the cliff-hanger but this is the first part of a two part chapter. So all will become clear soon. **

**Thanks for the reviews especially to KiwiSWFan and CSI Encyclopedia for their continuous reviews. Your feedback is awesome.**

**Also, thank you to xFictionalMenRTheRealThingx for pointing out my mistake in mixing up 'post' and 'ante'. That's now been corrected so apologies for any confusion. **

**Any theories yet? The story is really going to start picking up now! (And I promise more regular updates)**


	18. Not in Your Job Description Part 2

**Chapter 18: Not in Your Job Description Part 2**

_"It all boils down to the forensics,"_

Jack couldn't help but start and stare at DI Harris in shock. Forensics? The biggest stumbling block on this case had been a _lack _of forensics and here was DI Harris pinning the entire case on it. He mentally ran through all the evidence they had collected so far, but couldn't seen how DI Harris could have anything of use, let alone be on the brink of solving the case.

He quickly drew his attention back to the conversation occurring between the two women, when DI Harris pushed a photograph onto the table. Jack craned his head and saw that he was staring at a photo of muddy looking converse trainers.

"Do you recognise these trainers?" DI Harris asked Molly

Molly nodded "They're mine,"

"So you admit to owning them?" DI Harris asked

"That's what I said Detective," Molly said curtly

"At the scene of Richard Carter's murder we recovered a partial shoeprint which forensics later found to come from a size four converse trainer. Isn't that right Jack?"

Jack closed his eyes and nodded. An uncomfortable sinking feeling in his chest began to occur as he realised where DI Harris was heading with this.

"Forensics have also discovered that the murderer is of short stature," DI Harris said "How tall are you Molly?"

"5 foot 4 inches," Molly replied "And I'm not short, I'm space efficient," she said folding her arms with a huff

DI Harris gritted her teeth to supress a snarky comment and continued "Forensics recovered a lens at the scene which came from a pair of glasses," she said "For the tape, Miss Williams wears glasses and also has had a recent appointment to replace her glasses that were broken,"

Jack couldn't hold back any longer "That's all circumstantial," he blurted out and was met with a furious look from DI Harris

"Mr Hodgson!" she snapped "If you continue to interrupt this interview I will have you removed," and Jack dug his nails into his trouser leg to prevent any further outbursts.

"Sorry," he said moodily

"As I was saying," DI Harris said "Your fingerprints are on the knife used in the murder, a footprint matching shoes that you own is also at the scene as is a lens from glasses. So, where were you on the night of the murder of Richard Carter?"

"Working," Molly said

"Where?"

"The Slug and Pellet," Molly said "I do the occasional shift there,"

This time it was DI Harris' turn to look shocked "Your name isn't on the list of employees,"

"It wouldn't be," Molly shrugged "My employment there, if you can call it that, is largely sporadic,"

"Well isn't that interesting," DI Harris said and Jack could see her mind putting the pieces into place "All our victims had alcohol in their system and you have just told me that you have a job where you have access to alcohol,"

"So what?" Molly said calmly

"So what?" DI Harris repeated "Molly, you've just admitted on tape a crucial piece of evidence,"

"Circumstantial evidence," the solicitor corrected "My client's fingerprints may be on the knives but you have yet to place her at the scene of the crime,"

"Do you have any friends Molly?" DI Harris said suddenly and Molly looked surprised

"Sorry, I don't think I-"

"I spoke to some of your neighbours and they told me that you seem to be something of a loner. In fact PC Ella White, acting as FLO on the case, had to place you in a Bed and Breakfast because there was no one else for you to stay with,"

Molly shrugged and remained silent but Jack could see she was slightly unnerved at the line of questioning. Before she had seemed calm and collected, almost as if she had been anticipating the questions DI Harris had thrown at her. But this new question seemed to strike her as unexpected and Jack watched as her body language tensed and brow furrowed as she tried to pre-empt where DI Harris was heading,

"It must get lonely with just hanging around with your father all the time. Especially given that he abused you. I bet it went on for years didn't it Molly? All those years you had to live in isolation with him beating you. It bet you were crying out for someone to recognise you. I bet that you wanted to turn the tables on your father and be the powerful one for once. I bet that is why you murdered five people,"

"What would I have to gain from killing those people?" Molly asked. It was neither an admission nor a denial. Jack could tell that she was testing the water with DI Harris' new line of enquiry

"I'm so glad you asked me that," DI Harris said and cleared her throat "Alan Jones and Richard Carter were friends of your father. Presumably they knew about the beatings, maybe they even partook in them. But regardless they didn't tell anyone about them, leaving you in further isolation. So they were your first targets. You murdered them to punish them for not speaking out on your behalf. George Francis was your employer at the Slug and Pellet. Why did you murder him? He had a public dispute with your father which made your father so very angry. That probably increased the beatings making you feel more and more powerless. Again, he was indirectly responsible for keeping you in that isolated existence and so was the next to go"

"DC Roberts was the officer who arrested your father. We know that probably contributed to the vicious beating your father gave you that put you in hospital. Again, he was indirectly contributing to your misery. But killing a police officer, a figure of power, gave you a high. Or maybe it was also revenge for not convicting your father for murdering your mother all those years ago,"

Molly's face contorted "He did not murder my mother," she said and Jack noticed her breathing getting more and more rapid

DI Harris noticed this momentary lapse in her defences and pressed on "Did he knock her around as well?" she asked "Why did she stay with him Molly? I bet you asked yourself that question all the time. I bet she-"

BANG!

Molly slammed her hands down on the table and stood up. For the first time in the interview she made eye contact with DI Harris

"Don't you dare talk about my mother like that,"

"Miss Williams," her solicitor pleaded but his request fell on deaf ears as Molly continued to glare at DI Harris

"Molly," Jack said softly "Breathe,"

The command was simple but effective. Jack, watched as Molly reluctantly drew her gaze away from DI Harris and back towards Jack. Her breathing slowed and she shakily sat back down again.

"I think we could all do with a break right now," the solicitor suggested

"Interview suspended at 12:30pm," DI Harris said and reached over to the tape player

_Click_

…

_Click_

"I'm still getting his voicemail," Nikki said as she hung up the phone once more "What on earth is taking him so long?"

"I don't know," Clarissa shook her head "Maybe he's stuck in traffic and forgot his hands-free kit," she offered as a suggestion but both of them knew it was entirely unsatisfactory

"I tried calling the police station but DI Harris was conducting an interview and couldn't speak to me,"

"Molly Williams I presume," Clarissa said and Nikki nodded "Do you think she did it?"

"It doesn't look good for her at the moment," Nikki admitted "The evidence seems o point in her direction and to be honest I'm not really sure what to think anymore. She is starting to look very guilty,"

"It's not over yet," Clarissa told Nikki who murmured thoughtfully in response as she sloshed some more coffee into her mug

…

The beeping of the machine told Jack that his coffee was ready. He warily picked it up, trying not to burn his hand in the process. He tentatively sniffed at the brown liquid and hoped that it was going to taste better than it had the previos time.

"How did you do that?" a voice came from behind him and he turned to see DI Harris leaning on a wall watching him carefully

"I put a coin in the machine and it gave me this foul looking concoction,"

"Not the coffee," she said "Molly Williams. How did you calm her down?"

"MMA," he shrugged "I've seen it in other fighters. They get themselves so worked up like that. Adrenaline course through their veins and they switch into fight mode. They need to of course, but then instinct takes over and they lose all control. MMA needs you to keep in control of your emotions. Uncontained rage is not helpful at all. Getting in control of your breathing is one way of getting back in control of your emotions," Jack explained as he took a sip of his drink

"So how am I doing on the science stuff?" she asked

"Pseudo-science you mean," Jack corrected "Half of what you said is circumstantial,"

"And the other half?"

"Bullshit" he said bluntly "Were you honestly expecting me to back up your crack-pot theories?"

"I want you to do what's in your job description,"

"My job requires me to analyse evidence in order to allow the criminal justice system to deliver just that: justice. My job does not require me to back up half-baked theories to convict a young woman just because the SIO has a bone to pick with her,"

"I think you'd better watch what you're saying," DI Harris glared at him "Such allegations could get you into a lot of trouble,"

"If it stops the conviction of an innocent person then it's more than worth it," he said firmly

DI Harris watched Jack carefully. His body language wasn't imposing but she could sense certain stubbornness behind it. He was certainly sticking firmly to his principles. Maybe she should have gotten the blonde down here instead of him.

"I appreciate your cooperation today but your presence is no longer required here Mr Hodgson. Thank you and goodbye," she said turning on her heel and stalking off down the corridor

Screwing up his face in frustration, Jack lobbed his coffee cup into the bin showering himself with hot brown liquid in the process. Swearing under his breath, he grabbed his bag and stormed out of the police station. He angrily tugged at the handle of his land rover and almost threw himself in the driving seat. A scrunching sound brought him out of his cloud or anger and shifting his position he pulled out a small package and sighed as he realised it was the muffin he had brought for Nikki earlier.

He angrily slammed his hand onto the stearing wheel setting off his horn in the process, earning him a dirty look from passers-by.

Why was he the only one who seemed to be able to think clearly when it came to this case?

Even Nikki seemed in danger of being subsumed into whatever conspiracy the police were concocting.

Why hadn't she told him Molly Williams had been arrested? Did she not trust him? Did she doubt his abilities to keep detached from the case?

Did she still blame him for Leo's death? For holding her back so she couldn't run after him? She had blamed him in those first few raw few hours after the explosion. Where the grief had been so intense and she had just shouted and screamed at him. She had pummelled at his muscular chest, crying and crying until even tears gave way to silence.

He hadn't taken it personally at the time. He wanted to shout and scream as much as she did. When she had calmed down, she was endlessly apologetic and Jack had thought no more of it.

But what if she _did_ still blame him?

What then?

…

"Where on earth have you been?" Nikki said when Jack eventually arrived back at the lab

"On my lunch break" he said walking over to his desk

"For nearly two hours?" she asked incrediously

"I got you a muffin," he said tossing her the squashed packet

She caught it and inspected it "What did you do to it? Did you practise your MMA training on it or something?"

"Next time get your own muffin," he said moodily

"Jack!" she said, frowning at his tone

"If we're done here I've got work to catch up on," he said turning back to face his computer and hastily typing away at his keyboard, refuting all attempts by Nikki to continue to conversation.

…

Jack was left alone for the duration of the afternoon. Hi colleagues seemed to sense his bad mood and kept their distance. All expect one person.

"We need to talk now," Clarissa said appearing at Jack's side

"I'm busy," he said without looking up

"It's not optional," she told him and placed a hand on his arm "Jack," she said using the same tone of voice he had used with Molly "Breathe,"

Slowly, he let out a breath and felt some of the frustration subside. Tossing down his pen, he turned to face Clarissa

"So talk," he said

"I know you were with DI Harris this afternoon," Clarissa told him "I checked your phone. So you're either having a clandestine affair or this was something to do with the case,"

Jack snorted derisively "She's not my type. I prefer to go for competent women who don't hold a grudge against innocent people just so they can get promoted,"

"Given your track record with Chrissie Reed I'm not sure that's quite true," Clarissa pondered "But at least I know now that it is something to do with the case,"

"She wanted me to sit in on the interview with Molly, to get her to open up,"

"That's not in your job description," Clarissa said "Nikki would hit the roof is she knew,"

"I've done it before with Roly Henderson," he countered

"Yes, but you didn't know the suspect on that case," Clarissa said but Jack jut ignored her

"Well it's a good thing I did go," Jack told her "At least now I know for sure this investigation is tainted with tunnel vision. DI Harris has only got circumstantial evidence but she's trying to pin it all on Molly. She wanted me to back up her crazy ideas,"

"If you're that concerned then you need to go through the official channels," Clarissa reasoned "Throwing accusations about isn't going to help and it could put your job as risk,"

"But this is wrong!" Jack protested "I know Molly didn't do it,"

"How do you know?"

"It all fits too neatly. The fingerprints on the knife were undisturbed and the fibre on DC Roberts' body was too easy to find. I told you I thought the killer was playing games with us and I'm even surer of it now,"

"Jack," Clarissa sighed "You know what doesn't rule Molly out as a suspect,"

"I know that," Jack told her "But it's a starting point,"

"If you really want to help her then you need to start thinking like a scientist again," Clarissa reasoned "Evidence doesn't lie Jack. Stick to that and less with your wild theories. Don't fling around accusations unless you can back them up," she said wisely "Remember what happened in Yorkshire with Chrissie,"

"I know," he repeated "But I'm _sure_ of this,"

"You told me you were sure back then as well," Clarissa sighed

"Don't you trust me?" he asked

She rolled her eyes "You know I trust you Jack. I'm just advising you to tread carefully on this on that's all. Stick to your job description. Stick to what you know best,"

"Fine," he said

"And less of the moody brooding as well," Clarissa frowned "We're a team remember?"

"A team without an I," he said smiling at the memory

"Now get back to work," she told him "You've slacked off enough today already,"

He nodded and turned back to his work. Clarissa watched him as he poured over the evidence in an intense but much calmer manner. She smiled; satisfied that she had managed to diffuse the situation this time. She admired Jack's dedication and enthusiasm but he did need to be reined in every so often.

Jack had a tendency to really put his foot in it and Clarissa was worried that one day he would come away with more than just a dressing down from management. But he seemed calmer now and although her worries were not completely diminished (they rarely were when it came to Jack), she felt she didn't have to keep both eyes on him.

For the moment at least.

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews!**


	19. Retracing Her Footsteps

**Chapter 19: Retracing Her Footsteps **

It was a chilly morning and the police office buried himself deeper into his coat as he rubbed at his hands. He hated being stuck on cordon duty and was counting down the time until he was relieved of his duty by a colleague. He was desperate for a coffee to put some much needed warmth back into his body. The area was quiet and the officer scuffed his boot against the ground in boredom.

His head shot up as he heard a rough scraping noise grow louder and louder. Soon a battered old land rover came into view. The police officer looked suspiciously at the vehicle as a tall, dark haired man stepped out. Grabbing a dark case out of the boot of his car, the man walked towards him fumbling in his pocket for something.

"Jack Hodgson," the man introduced him and flashed his ID badge at him "Forensics. I need another look at the scene,"

The police officer nodded and scribbled something down on his clipboard before holding the tape up for the man to duck under. He hadn't been expecting any of that science lot to turn up He thought that they had finished with the scene. But then again what did he know? His knowledge of forensics only extended to CSI. So his thoughts turned back to thoughts of coffee and finishing up his shift and the tall Irishman slipped from his mind.

…

Jack made his way up to the William's house. He had decided to take Clarissa's advice and go over the evidence. So he had travelled back to the crime scene to go over the house to see if he could find anything that would give them a new lead on the case.

He approached the rickety door and set his case down. Pulling on some gloves he ran his hand over the peeling point and inspected the doorframe. He'd checked it for fingerprints before but had only found Molly's and Jonathan's. If someone else had been there on the night of Jonathan's murder, then they must have worn gloves.

The doorframe was intact suggesting no one had kicked it in or broken in. Did that mean they had a key? Did someone forget to shut the door properly or maybe Jonathan knew his attacker? Shaking his head as various theories spun around his head, he entered the house.

…

_Flashback: A few days ago _

_Molly stumbled up the path toward the front door. Her body was aching and she could hardly keep her eyes open. She leant against the door for support as she fumbled in her pocket for her keys. She groaned in frustration as the keys stuck in the lock once again. _

_He had promised to fix it months ago but he hadn't gotten around to it yet. They had been so busy working on the magazine that the housework had fallen from their priorities. _

_The key finally turned in the lock and Molly stumbled forward into the dark house. Her muscles tensed to stop her falling and she winced in pain. _

"_Dad?" she called out but was met with only silence. _

…

The Present Day:

He walked down the cluttered corridors examining everything he saw. If there had been a break in then it was impossible to tell given the cluttered state of the house.

Molly had said that she had gone straight upstairs to her room when she had arrived home. Jack climbed the creaky stairs and glanced around at the various doors springing off the corridor. Picking one, he pushed on the wood and entered, relieved that he had chosen correctly. The feminine feel to the room, suggested that this was indeed Molly's personal space.

…

_Flashback: A Few Days Ago _

_Molly assumed he must be out and decided she was too tired to search throughout the house for him. Stepping over some loose sheaths of paper she made her way lowly up the stairs, ignoring the protests from her body. _

_Entering her room, she walked straight over to her bed and flopped down on it. She couldn't muster up the energy to change out of her clothes and instead just pulled her duvet over her. _

_Her eyes were weighted down with fatigue and soon it overwhelmed her and she fell into a fitful sleep_

…

The Present Day: 

To Jack, it seemed no different from any bedroom he had ever visited in a crime scene capacity. It was cluttered like the rest of th house, with stacks of paper pinned to the walls and stuffed in every nook and cranny. Clothes were flung over and hanging off chairs and books were piled precariously in wobbling piles. He walked over to the window and glanced out. The glass was grimy but from his vantage point he could look over the driveway where the police officer was standing guard. The rest of the view was taken up by the green foliage which had been allowed to grow freely all around the house. His shivered slightly as he felt a cool breeze blow through the pane. Pulling his jacket around him to keep warm he moved away from the window.

Molly said she had fallen asleep and had woken up later in the evening. Presumably the house would have been in darkness and even if she had looked out of the window, it was unlikely there would have been enough light to see anyone approach the house. Starting from her bed, he traced Molly's steps down from her room to her father's study.

…

_Flashback: A Few Days Ago _

_When Molly woke up it was dark. She tried to find her watch amongst the clutter in her room but her eyes had yet to adjust to the gloom. Pushing herself up in bed, she stepped onto the cool floor and made her way over to the window. _

_It was dark outside and she could hardly see anything outside. She blinked a few times as her eyes started to adjust and she thought she was able to make out the outline of some trees. But up and away from the village, artificial light was scarce and they were largely at the mercy of nature. She shivered as a cool breeze blew through the window pane. As much as she liked living in an old house, it did have its disadvantages. A lack of adequate heating was especially testing at times. _

_Estimating it was late evening, she decided to make her way downstairs to look for her father. She made her way lowly into the hallway and groped for the light switch. She sighed loudly as, after clicking it on and off a few times, remembered they had forgotten to pay the electricity bill again that month. That meant that the utility company had probably cut them off for good this time. It hadn't help that her Dad had published an article suggesting that the company had been brainwashed by the government to rearrange the power lines in order to satisfy the aesthetic needs of their alien overlords. _

_Molly tentatively made her way down the steps, gripping the banister tightly so as not to slip. She pulled her hoody tightly around her as she shivered in the coolness of the house. She hopped down the last few steps and made her way towards her father's study. She was able to walk with more confidence now, being on flat and more familiar ground. _

_But something made her stop suddenly and she paused in the darkness. She glanced around and felt a shiver creep up her spine. _

_Could it be? _

_She straightened up and shook her head wildly, telling herself not to be so silly. Still she couldn't quite put her finger on what had caused her to pause at that moment. Only that there was something…_

_She made her way over to the study door and pressed on the. They had little time for formalities in their family and so often interrupted each other's thoughts and space as they pleased. Molly assumed that if her father was home that this is the place he most likely be. There was something she desperately wanted to talk to him about. _

_She just hoped that he hadn't been drinking. Molly called out as she entered the room_

"_Dad?"_

…

The Present Day:

The blood stains were still visible on the floor. A harsh crimson red had seeped into the wooden floorboards below. Jack sighed to himself as he realised that this is what Molly would have been met with: the rusty iron smell of blood, the sticky liquid beneath her feet and eventually the sight of her father's body. He remembered she had said she slipped in it and he glanced over to the void space near the door. Just visible was a small handprint where she had presumably stretched out her hands to break her fall.

Jack glanced around the room and his eyes fell upon the large desk in the corner. Scanning its contents he worked with the hypothesis that Jonathan had been working here shortly before he died. The desk was cluttered with scraps of paper covered in illegible handwriting. Half-finished articles were stained with coffee rings and endless drafts had been screwed up to form a myriad of paper balls which decorated the desk.

He paused as he noticed something: a photo frame placed face down on the desk. He gingerly prised it up, expecting there to be broken glass but it was still completely intact. The frame held a picture of a beaming young woman and Jack recognised the individual in the photograph as being Molly's mother. Photographs of her was dotted all around the house and he remembered the almost shrine like quality of the living room.

That was why the photo frame had caught his attention. None of the other photographs had been covered up except this one. The frame was completely undamaged suggesting it hadn't been knocked down. To Jack, this suggested that someone had placed it there deliberately and he pondered the wild thought of whether it ad been the killer that had done it. An even wilder thought crept into his mind as he wondered whether the killer had touched it with their bare hands or not.

Grabbing the frame he pulled an evidence bag out of his kit and dropped the frame in it, deciding to run it for fingerprints later. It was a long shot, he knew that, but there was something troubling about the frame and he knew he was determined to pursue every lead he could lay his hands on.

However wild those leads seemed to be.

…

The police officer sighed, satisfied, as he slurped down another mouthful of coffee. An approach of footsteps behind him, signalled that the forensic bloke had finished his work and so he reluctantly drew one of his hands away from the warm cup to hold up the tape once more.

"Thanks" the Irishman grunted as he straightened up again

"I don't suppose you want a coffee too?" a voice called and Jack looked up and noticed, for the first time, another individual at the tape.

The man was dressed in typical farming attire and was leaning on the fencepost with a thermos flask in his hand.

"No thanks," Jack politely declined as the office scribbled at his clipboard again to sign Jack out

"Grim business this," the man said "Poor old Jonathan. Still, I thought you lot had finished with this old place,"

"The investigation is on-going," Jack said making his way back to the car

"I see," the man said and Jack frowned as he picked up something odd in the man's tone of voice "You must be one of those CSI-blokes,"

"Something like that," Jack said forcing a small onto his face as he unlocked the boot of his car

"It's beyond me all this, I can tell you," the man said gesturing to Jack's kit "I suppose that's evidence," he said pointing at the brown bag

Jack made a non-committal grunt and continued to load his boot. From his periphery vision Jack noticed the man did not take his eyes off the photo frame that was pressing up against the plastic window of the evidence bag.

Jack cleared his throat and glanced towards the boot in an attempt to get the man to move away. Taking his hint, the man stepped backwards allowing Jack to lock everything away. He was just about to make his way to the driver's side of the car when the man stopped him once more.

"I do hope that you find who did this to poor Jonathan," the man said "Such a terrible thing to happen. So terrible for the whole family,"

Jack watched the man warily as he pulled away and went back to chatting with the police officer. There was something distinctly strange about his manner but Jack shrugged it off as being down to the general demeanour of the agricultural industry of which Yorkshire had given him ample experience of.

Even if this man was a local, Jack knew better than to try and press him to get some information out of him. It was futile: He knew farmers and farmers would tell you nothing. He started up his car engine and pulled away from the house, back down the dirt track and onto the main road.

A glance in his rear-view mirror showed him that the man was still deep in conversation with the police officer who looked grateful for the distraction and was more than happy to engage in idle chatter as long as the hot beverages kept coming.

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope the switching between past and present wasn't too confusing; I just wanted to try something new. **


	20. Suspension

**Chapter 20: Suspension **

As soon as the email dropped into Nikki's inbox she had a sinking feeling about what it might contain. The use of her full name, Doctor Nicola Alexander, and the fact it was sent from the Coroner did little to ease her concerns. She scanned the contents of the email carefully, her eyes flicking from line to line as she scrolled down the page.

She inwardly groaned as she started to realise the full implications of what the email was demanding of her. The Coroner had seemingly left this particularly delightful task to her as head of the Lyell Centre. Not for the first time she felt anger towards Leo for his completely selfless nature which had resulted in his death. She needed him now more than ever. He would know what to do in this situation. His wealth of experience would be enough to instinctively guide him to do the right thing. Although Nikki was starting to find her feet in her new role, there were times when she felt at sea.

When her job had made her feel especially desperate she had taken to speaking to his gravestone in hope of somehow getting some counsel. She knew it was futile but just being close to Leo made her feel better. She could of course call Harry up to ask for his advice but he was thousands of miles away and in a different time zone. They had managed to keep up a fairly frequent stream of emails but it was mostly just exchanging pleasantries and anyway her stubborn pride seemed to be keeping her from going to him for help. She would never admit it but she was still angry at him for taking the position in America. She respected his desire for career advancement but after all they had been through, especially the event in Hungary, she never actually thought he would leave her like that.

Come to think of it, she never thought Leo would leave her like that either. She always thought he would be around. He was the fixed point in her chaotic and ever changing world and now he was gone, she wasn't sure if she would ever find anything to anchor her in the same way that he had. That either of them had.

But she knew brooding of what was and what might have been was futile. Right know she had to focus on what was inevitably, thanks to the Coroner, about to happen. She closed her eyes and tried her best to channel her 'inner Leo' and ran through in her head exactly what she was going to say.

…

Jack was idly swinging around in his chair when Nikki called him into her office. His hunch had been right and he had managed to pull some fingerprints off the photo frame that morning. He was currently running them through the database although getting increasingly frustrated by its slowness to produce results.

When she had stuck her head around her office door and called to him, he at first thought it was to tell him off for swinging on his chair. When she failed to note that, he thought it was for snapping at her the previous day. When even that was not mentioned, he started to run through his head off all the possible things he could be in trouble for.

When it came to Jack, that list was really rather long.

"What can I do for you, Boss?" he said following her into her office "If this is about yesterday then-"

She put up a hand to silence him "Take a seat please Jack," she said and Jack frowned at her formal demeanour. Quite clearly this was something more than a telling off for being late.

Nikki took a seat behind her desk and glanced over at him warily. From his position he could see her computer screen was showing her email inbox and what looked like a rather long and formal email flashed up on the screen.

"This morning I received an email from the Coroner," Nikki informed him "A formal complaint has been made against you Jack and-"

"What?" he sat bolt upright in his chair, leaning in closer towards Nikki "By who?"

"That's not relevant right now," Nikki said

"Who, Nikki?" he demanded again and Nikki knew she was not going to get any further in her task until she told him

"DI Harris," she supplied reluctantly

"I should have known," he shook his head angrily "What does the stupid-"

"Jack!" she chastised and he fell silent clearly realising he had overstepped the mark "As I was saying, a complaint has been made about your conduct. DI Harris has complained that you accused her, without evidence, or corruption and that your behaviour has been compromising the investigation,"

"She thinks that you're emotionally too involved," Nikki said "And I'm starting to agree Jack," she said softly

"I'm not overinvolved;" he countered "I'm just concerned that DI Harris is losing perspective on this case,"

"And I'm worried _you're_ losing perspective," Nikki told him "When was the last time you slept properly Jack?" she said looking at the bags under his eyes "You're no use to anyone like this,"

"What are you going to do?" he asked

"I warned you before that if I felt you were losing perspective that I would take you off the case," Nikki told him "And so I want you to cease working on this case immediately. Pass everything you've got onto Clarissa," she said

"There's something else though, isn't there?" he said studying her face carefully

Nikki sighed "Because of this complaint, a formal investigation is going to need to be undertaken. As a result, the Coroner had told me to suspend you for duty, taking effect from the end of the day,"

Jack let out a string of swear words, making Nikki wince "You can't be serious?" he exclaimed

"I'm sorry Jack,"

"This is all wrong, you know that?" he said as his body contorted with anger "I should have known you were getting sucked in to their games. I didn't actually think you were on their side though,"

"I'm not only anyone's side Jack," she told him "I have no choice but to suspend you whilst this is all sorted out. My hands are tied. I have to follow protocol"

"Your hands weren't tied on the Roly Henderson case," he snapped "You broke the protocols then,"

"That was different and you know it," Nikki told him curtly

"Bollocks," he snapped and stormed out of the office slamming the door behind him

…

When she had heard Jack start shouting, Clarissa knew it was bad news. Seeing him storm out of the office just confirmed that. She watched him stalk over to his desk and start shoving hi belongings into his bag

"Where're you going?" she asked

"Home," he said bluntly "I've been suspended,"

"Why?" she asked looking shocked

"DI Harris," he said as a way of an explanation and Clarissa immediately understood

"I'm sorry Jack," she said softly

"This is complete and utter bollocks," he said shoving his mobile phone into his jacket pocket "Nikki wants you to take over my work for the time being," he said tossing her a file "Given that she thinks I'm incapable,"

"Okay," she nodded "But I don't think Nikki thinks your incapable," she reasoned "She just has to follow protocol,"

"Oh, you're on her side now are you?" Jack snapped and Clarissa sighed.

She knew better than to argue with Jack when he was all fired up. She fell silent and watched him storm out of the office. She made a note to call him later and try to talk to him when he was calmer. She hoped to be able to talk some sense into him. A frustrated Jack was impossible to reason with.

…

Despite telling her, he hadn't gone home but instead he made his way over to the MMA gym. He was too agitated to sit at home and do nothing, so instead decided to vent his frustrations getting punched in the face.

"I wasn't expecting you here today," his trainer said as Jack stalked into the gym having changed from his jeans and shirt into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

"I've got some unexpected time on my hands." Jack said pulling on his gloves and sucker-punching the punch bag "I've got a lot of free time on my hands," he said dodging to the left as the bag swung back towards him

After watching Jack pummel the bag for an hour his trainer sought to approach him whilst the Irishman was taking a break. Jack was sitting down on one of the benches, breathing heavily as he wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts

"Do you want to talk about it?" his trainer said asked down beside him and offering him a bottle of water which Jack gratefully accepted

"No, because I'm not a woman," Jack shook his head as he took a gulp of water

"That's a little sexist, but I take your point," his trainer shrugged "You strike me as the strong and silent type, not a gossip like some of these guys," he said gesturing to a group of men talking not far away "Are you still up for the fight this weekend?"

Jack nodded as he recalled he remembered his upcoming fight. It was a rematch between Jason Hughes, the man he had been fighting the night before he had been called to the John Briggs case; the case where he had first met Nikki. Jack was out for revenge; Jason's illegal elbowing had caused him to loose fight and loose face but Jack was prepared this time. He was not going to lose.

"You need to remember to keep you defences up," his trainer was telling him "I know that elbowing you in the face was an illegal move but you should have seen in coming with a dirty fighter like him,"

"Fine," Jack nodded

"Your attack is fine and so is your speed," his trainer continued "Just make sure you stay on your toes and don't let your emotions overwhelm you. I don't know what you're pissed off about but you can't let it take control of you like this,"

Jack grunted as he stood up and pulled on his gloves, eyeing up his future opposition who had just entered the gym.

"Let's see how you fare in the cage," his trainer said "Show me what you've got," he said grabbing some boxing pads as they walked into the cage.

…

She shivered as she stood in the damp car park. The evenings were starting to draw in now and there was a perpetual chill in the air. She pulled her coat around her and shuffled slightly to try and bring back some warmth into her numb feet.

A few drops of cold rain slashed down her neck and she glanced up at the gloomy sky. The night was dark and the gathering rain clouds blocked out the moon and the stars. The car park was dimly lit by street lamps which illuminated the rapidly expanding puddles which were forming on the tarmac. The inky water spread into her shoes making her wince as the numbness increased in her feet.

She was desperately hoping that this would work but she knew the price of failing was high. Too high. She had no choice. It had to work.

Failure was no longer an option. She had gone too far to back out now.

She glanced up as she saw someone exit the building and she knew that finally, after all this waiting, it was time.

…

Jack slung his bag into his shoulder and yawned widely. His training session had taken a lot out of him and a wave of fatigue swept over him. His was struggling to keep his eyes open and was seriously considering calling a cab home instead of driving in his tired state.

He wasn't sure what had come over him. His endless bags of energy had seemed to diminish quite rapidly after he had taken a short break from his training. Maybe Nikki was right; maybe he had been working too hard after all.

He made his way over to his car, pulling his keys out of his pocket. Jack paused suddenly and turnd around and gazed across the car park. He thought he had seen something out of the corner of his eye but as he glanced around in the gloom, he realised he was alone. He put it down to tireness and turned back around, pulling the collar of his coat up as the rain started to hammer down.

The noise of the rain combined with the drone of the traffic from the nearby road meant that he didn't hear them come up behind him.

BANG!

White, hot pain seared through his skull and his vision swam before him. He fell to the ground with a thump and felt his face slam into the rough ground beneath him. The smell of wet tarmac and blood filled his nostrils and was the last thing he remembered before he slipped into unconsciousness.

**Author's Note: Little bit of a shorter chapter here but it seemed like a good place to pause it. Thanks for the reviews. **


	21. Voicemail

**Chapter 21: Voicemail**

"Hi, you've reached Jack Hodgson. I can't get to the phone right now but leave a message after the beep and I'll get back to you"

_Beep!_

"Jack, it's Clarissa again. Just call me when you get this message okay? Please? I just want to know that you're alright. So call me or text me, even if it's to tell me to go away. Just, pick up please.

Clarissa sighed as she hung up the phone. That was the fifth time she had tried to call Jack that evening and could only get his voicemail. She knew that Jack's sulks could last a long time but something was bothering her about this one. He had seemed so agitated when he left the Lyell Centre and whilst she assumed he'd probably gone off to do some fighting to work through his frustrations, it was getting later and later into the evening and he still wasn't picking up.

Her mind ran through all the logical possibilities as to why she could reach him and came up with a shortlist:

He was still sulking and simply ignoring his calls

He had tried to drown his sorrows and was too incapacitated to undertake a phone call

He was busy having sex with some random blonde that he'd picked up in a bar in an attempt to regain some of his wounded pride

Of course, there was option number four but Clarissa didn't want to dwell on that too long. It was a possibility but not one that fitted with her paradigm; it was too wild a theory and to her it really only suggested that Jack's bad influence was rubbing off on her.

Something bad had happened to him.

She made a decision to try again in the morning and if he still didn't pick up then she would potentially work option number four into her schemata. But she knew there were still three entirely likely possibilities to rule out before she got to that point.

After all, she reminded herself, Jack's sulks had become notorious in their last workplace. Why should this time be any different?

…

"Hi, you've reached Jack Hodgson. I can't get to the phone right now but leave a message after the beep and I'll get back to you"

_Beep!_

"Jack, it's Nikki, I was just phoning to make sure that you're okay. I'm sorry about what happened today. I wanted to let you know I don't agree with the decision to suspend you but it's out of my hands. I'll do the best I can to get you reinstated as soon as possible. I need my lead forensic scientist back. I do trust in your abilities Jack, I really do,"

Nikki hung up the phone and leant back into her chair, taking a much needed gulp of wine as she did so. Today had been most stressful and she was glad to be back in the comfort of her home curled up with a glass of white wine and a copy of 'Pride and Prejudice' at her side.

But try as she might, she just couldn't switch off. Her confrontation with Jack had been playing in the back of her mind throughout the day. She had been expecting it not to go well but his agitation worried her. In fact the whole case worried her. She pondered whether Jack was right: was the case getting tunnel vision? She shared his concerns about DI Harris. That woman seemed far to driven and all in the negative sense of the terms.

Could the DI's desire to get a result be affecting her judgement? Also, at what cost exactly cost was DI Harris determined to get a result? DC Roberts had already lost his life in the duration of this case as had Jonathan Williams and DI Harris had, both times, indirectly contributed to them demise of both men. How many more were to suffer before this killer was brought to justice?

She was worried about Jack. He had placed himself on the path of DI Harris and Nikki wasn't sure that boded well for him. She hadn't really expected him to pick up but she felt compelled to call him anyway. She didn't want to let her team fall apart over this case. The Lyell Centre was in a fragile enough state as it was without them at each other's throats.

She sipped at her wine again. He was probably just ignoring her. She'd try again tomorrow just to make sure he was okay. She felt she needed to, not only as his boss but also as his friend.

…

"Hi, you've reached Jack Hodgson. I can't get to the phone right now but leave a message after the beep and I'll get back to you"

_Beep!_

"This is a message for Mr Jack Hodgson. I'm calling on behalf of the Coroner to reiterate that information you received today. Your suspension is now in effect and you are restricted from working on all cases until the matter has been resolved. We will be in contact with you in the next few days to get a statement from you. If you have any queries about the proceedings then please do not hesitate to contact us,"

…

"Hi, you've reached Jack Hodgson. I can't get to the phone right now but leave a message after the beep and I'll get back to you"

_Beep!_

"Jack, it's your Mam. I haven't heard from you in a while,. I suppose you're just busy with work. At least I hope you're at work and not cag-fighting or whatever it is you call it. You better not be cage-fighting again! Anyway, don't work too hard, will you? I know what you're like when you set your mind to something, you get so overwhelmed you lose sight of what's important. Make sure you're eating properly and I mean proper food, not just pizza. Speak to you soon, sweetheart,"

…

Crunch!

Pulling his foot back, he smiled smugly at the battered remains on the mobile phone, the constant buzzing of which had been both a surprise and an irritant.

Clearly, the Irishman was more connected than they had first thought. That could be potentially problematic. It meant that people might notice his disappearance. On the other hand, the Irishman had become increasingly isolated from his colleagues over the course of the investigation and so maybe people wouldn't look for him after all.

It had been so easy to prise the investigators apart. The animosity between the scientists and the police only needed a little push in the right direction before the relationship crumbled. The formal suspension had been the icing on the cake and had made the plan so much easier to undertake, which was an advantage since the Irishman had progressed at a far quicker rate than had been expected.

And then of course there had been the photo frame; the one tiny thing that could put an end to all the fun. It had been an oversight, a slip up but the job had been so well done that it didn't seem to be so much of a problem. A slip up sure, but a calculable risk nonetheless. Except the Irishman had found it and was so close to the truth now that the plan had to advance to the next stage quicker than was comfortable.

Things might not have gone as smoothly as hoped but they were about to get very interesting and the threat the Irishman posed would soon be over. It had been so easy to break into the MMA gym and slip it into his water bottle. Then it had been a matter of waiting in the gloom for him to come out.

Despite his stature he had been relatively easy to bring down and bundle into the back of the van. He was lying there now; long limbs all tangled up in a heap and blood matting his dark hair. His eyes were shut and he made no response at all. He almost looked as if he could be merely sleeping.

Hang on! There was still some warmth in his skin. And… No!. It was impossible there was still a pulse there. Weak and thread but a pulse beat out from underneath his skin. That was impossible! The belladonna should have killed him.

Unless…

What if it hadn't been belladonna that had been slipped into the Irishman's water? She wasn't that incompetent surely? It was a simple enough task to undertake. She wasn't that stupid…

Oh!

The truth was clear now, so very clear: the bitch had double crossed him.

He glanced over at her, huddled up in the corner, eyes fixed on the Irishman.

That would explain why she was so calm and collected. She had known all along that he wasn't dead. She must have slipped something else into the water instead.

"You silly, silly Bitch,"

"I'm sorry?" she glanced up, startled by the harsh tone

"Did you really think I'd not notice?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she pressed an innocent smile onto her face

"I warned you before about what would happen if you crossed me Molly. You have so much more to lose than you could ever imagine. Both you and your lumbering fool of a friend do,"

She didn't cry, or beg or plead. She must have been expecting it all along. Clearly, the girl had some sense left in her. She knew the limits of her intelligence. Shame she hadn't put it to good use in the first place when she made the decision to double cross him. Still, that could be easily resolved.

As the old saying went: Kill two birds with one stone.

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews **


	22. Crosswords and Cross Words

**Chapter 22: Crosswords and Cross Words**

"Eight letters. A package of DNA. Something, something, 'R', something, 'S', something, something, 'E,'"

Jack's eyes fluttered open and he groaned as a white bolt of pain flashed through his skull. He vomited violently on the floor, wincing as the acid taste stung his throat. He put his left hand up to his pounding head and felt a sticky substance matted into his hair. As he tried to adjust his position he heard a clanking sound and something pull at his right hand. He looked down and saw his right wrist bound to a metal pipe but a set of handcuffs. He tried to work out where it was coming from but his head felt cloudy and the rising nausea prevented him from thinking clearly

"Something, something, 'R', something, 'S', something, something, 'E,'"

Jack sat bolt upright at the sound of the voice and swore as the pain in his head increased. His glanced around his gloomy surroundings and tried to work out where he was. His surroundings were cold and smelt damp. He noticed a slight echo in the acoustics of the room and assumed he was below the ground. The room was dimly light by a dirty overhead bulb and was the only source of light in the room. No natural light seeped into the room and the placement of the bulb meant that only the centre of the room was adequately illuminated. The corners of the room remained cloaked in dusky shadows.

"Eight letters. Something, something, 'R'…" the voice came again. Jack had managed to locate it to a nearby corner but the lack of light and pain in his head prevented him from drawing any further conclusions. But the voice sounded familiar to him and he cursed the pain in his head for obstructing his thought process.

"Where the hell am I?" he demanded

"That's more than eight letters," the voice chastised

"Who are you?" Jack called out "Show yourself,"

Jack heard a sigh and the sound of paper dropping to the floor. A shuffling and a grunt of pain soon followed and he tensed as a form emerged from the gloom. The dim bulb highlighted a pair thick glasses, some scuffed boots and a grubby looking hoody. He swore loudly as he recognised the figure in front of him.

"Molly?" he gasped "But..How?" he stuttered, but his astonishment soon turned to anger "They were right about you all the time, weren't they?" he blew out his cheeks angrily "I put my job on the line trying to defend you!"

"It wasn't misguided," Molly said softly

"You were in on this all the time," he said angrily and she frowned at him for a moment before answering

"Oh I see!" she said suddenly "It must be that bump on your head. It's gotten you all confused," she reached up to touch his head wound but he flinched, and pulled away. She sighed softly and moved away.

"I don't think there's much to get confused about," Jack snapped "Undo these handcuffs now,"

"I can't Jack," Molly said sadly

"Why not?" he demanded

"It's something of a long story," she said

"Well apparently I'm not going anywhere soon, so I'm all ears," he said sarcastically

"You're not _all_ ears," she said cocking her head on one side "Either literally or metaphorically. You have two ears but also arms, legs and a nose, although I think judging from the amount of blood caked around it that it might be broken. Metaphorically speaking you're not quite all ears. Not just yet,"

"And what's that supposed to mean

"If I may steal your body metaphor, then for you to be all ears, you need to look at things differently," she told him "Look again Jack," she instructed, sitting down in front of him and moving her hair out of her face

He was about to respond when he finally saw what she meant. At first his anger had clouded his perception but now, sitting right in front of him, he was able to get a good look at her. Her face, much like his, was streaked with blood and dirt. One of her eyes was swollen shut due to bruising and the other was beginning to follow suite. She was cradling her arm slightly and Jack internally winced as he noticed the odd angle it was set at. Jack held her gaze and began to notice the fear and pain welling up in her bulbous eyes.

"You had nothing to do with this, did you?" he asked "You're as much as a victim in all of this as me?"

"I don't deserve your previous condemnation of my character, nor do I deserve your current censure," she told him "I'm not your captor or your comrade in arms, but maybe a mix of both. Like I said it's a very long story," she said, wincing as she adjusted the arm she was cradling

"Let me look at it," he told her, gesturing to her arm, and she moved closer to him.

Jack was suddenly reminded of the time he had visited Devil's Cott with Molly and she had sprained her ankle. He realised he was no closer to solving the case back then than he was now; if anything the case seemed to get even more confusing. But maybe, this was his chance to shed some light on what was happening. He just wondered whether he'd make it out alive to tell anyone of his findings.

"It's broken," he said finally on completion of his examination

"Oh!" Molly said looking surprised as she inspected her arm. Jack was amazed she hadn't drawn that conclusion herself given the unnatural positioning of the bones in her arm.

"Try and keep it still as much as possible," he advised "It'll help with the pain,"

She grunted in response and she returned to cradling her arm, humming slightly to herself as she did so.

"Chromosome," he said suddenly and she looked up at him puzzled "The crossword clue you were trying to work out earlier. Eight letters, a package of DNA: it's chromosome,"

"Chromosome!" she repeated, her face lighting up with delight "Thank you Jack,"

"Now that I've helped you, maybe you could help me?" he said "It seems fair, right?" he asked and she nodded

"You want to know what's going on," she said. It was less of a question and more of a statement "Even if I tell you the 'what', it won't necessarily help you work out the 'why'," Molly cautioned

"Well it can't make things worse now can it?" he said gesturing to the handcuffs and wincing slightly at the pain in his head

"True," she admitted reluctantly "So what do you want to know?"

"Where am I?"

"Easy enough question," she said "Devil's Cott. More specifically, the basement of Devil's Cott. I think we're just reaching the early hours of the morning if that helps orientate you further. You've been out for quite some time," she told him

"Why am I here?"

"You got on the wrong side of a very dangerous person," she said quietly "You spoilt his fun and he's not very happy with you,"

"I suppose I'm correct in assuming that this is connected the murders?" he asked and Molly nodded "So I've been kidnapped in an attempt to shut me up, is that it?"

"Sort of," she said "Actually the plan was to murder you but that went awry,"

"What!" Jack exclaimed "Why?"

"Like I said, you spoilt his fun," she gave a one-armed shrug "You were going to go the same way as all the other victims but like I said it went a little awry,"

"How?"

"Instead of spiking your water with belladonna, someone spiked it with sleeping tablets," she said and Jack suddenly realised why he had felt so exhausted after his training session.

"You did that?" he asked noticing the small smile playing on her face as she spoke

"Don't thank me just yet," she told him "It might be a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire," she said gloomily

"How did you break your arm?"

"I spoilt his fun," Molly admitted reluctantly "He wasn't very happy with me either,"

"I can tell," Jack said gazing at her bruised face. He was about to ask her some further questions when a grating sound echoed across the room. Molly froze and her eyes widened in fear.

"Molly," a voice cat-called "I've come to have a nice chat with you and your friend," The voice seemed familiar to Jack and he closed his eyes in an attempt to try and place the voice

He felt Molly grip at his arm "He's here," she said in a strained voice and he gently put his free arm on her in an attempt to placate her

"It's okay," he whispered in return

"Molly!" the voice barked and she let out a whimper as she stumbled to her feet and made her way over to the speaker "Ah! There you are," the voice said and Jack heard a sickening crack as fist collided with flesh. Even though Jack was repulsed by the sound, the deafening silence that followed it was far worse.

The sound of footsteps got louder and Jack braced himself for what was about to come next. He stared defiantly into the gloom, not wanting to let his fear show through

"Well, well Jack Hodgson," the voice came "We finally get to meet again,"

"What?" Jack said, sounding confused

"Oh Jack," the voice feigned mock hurt "Don't you recognise me. I'm so very hurt by that. Still, I'm not surprised. You did rush of so rudely the first time we met,"

"Show yourself," Jack demanded for the second time that hour and he let out an involuntary gasp as a figure stepped into the light "You!"

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating **


	23. Zero Sum Game

**Chapter 23: Zero Sum Game **

As the man stepped into the light Jack scrutinised his captor. He had immediately recognised him as the farmer he had met whilst recovering evidence from the Williams' house the day before he was kidnapped. But there were something different about him. This time he was not dressed in farming clothes but he changed into a shirt and jeans. His dialect had changed as well, from a rural tone to a sharper, more enounced one although the same coldness that had made Jack so uneasy before still remained.

The man leaned against the wall and lazily surveyed Jack with distaste "You were supposed to be dead," the man snapped

"Sorry about that," Jack said sarcastically "Who are you anyway?" he asked

The man chuckled nastily "All in good time Jack Hodgson. Patience is a virtue after all,"

"You killed all those people didn't you?" Jack asked and the man rocked back on his heels looking amused

"Not just me," he said "Your little friend over there helped me as well,"

"Why?"

"Because I was bored," the man shrugged "I was having so much fun until you came along. You are annoyingly competent,"

"Thanks very much,"

"It wasn't a compliment," the man snapped "You can't be allowed to continue Jack Hodgson. You're ruining all my fun,"

"So what this is part where you tell me your grand master-plan, before you kill me?" Jack asked sarcastically

"Oh Jack," the man shook his head "You are going to die. Don't think you will get out of here alive, it is an impossibility. But you will not have the pleasure of knowing all the little sordid details of my actions. The truth will remain a complete mystery to you. It is human desire to search for meaning where there appears to be none and you will not have the satisfaction of obtaining it,"

"The truth doesn't always give you the answer and the answer you're looking for isn't always the truth," Jack repeated

The man sneered "I see our mutual friend has been talking to you. I wouldn't listen to what she says, most of it is nonsense," he told Jack "Still you can get her to shut up sometimes," he said glancing over his shoulder to a position where Jack assumed Molly lay.

"So you're just going to skip the social niceties and kill me then?"

The man chuckled once more and the anger welled up inside of Jack. These murders had caused Jack to lose his job, his friends and now seemingly even his life was heading the same way. Yet the man acted as if this was just inconsequential, as if it was all a big joke. As the anger erupted Jack pulled forward and spat in the man's face. The sneer on the man's face turned to fury and Jack watched as he clearly fought to restrain himself from reacting. Jack noticed he was seemingly keeping a deliberate distance from him but pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he braced himself for the man's response.

"Well that was just rude," the man said as he wiped Jack's saliva from his face "You need to learn some manners Mr Hodgson. That temper of yours needs some control. Still, that can easily solved," he said turning on his heel

"Where are you going?" Jack yelled after him "Let me go,"

"Oh no Jack," he heard the man call from the darkness "Not yet. The fun is just about to begin,"

The footsteps faded away and the scrapping sound was heard again, accompanied by a clunking sound which Jack assumed was a key turning in a lock. He pulled against the handcuffs angrily in a futile attempt to escape. After a few moments he gave up and was met with silence once more. It was only when silence reigned supreme did he realise the full implications of it

"Molly?" he called into the darkness, realising she had made no sound since the man had entered. He recalled the sound of someone being struck and peered into the gloom to see where she was.

He strained to listen for any response and was sure he heard as muffled sob from the other side of the room

"He's gone Molly," Jack reassured her "It's okay," he lied, knowing it was anything but okay.

He heard a shuffling sound and watched as Molly shuffled back over to him. She was hunched over cradling her arm once more and Jack saw her nose was bleeding heavily. She sat down a short distance away from him and wiped at her nose as snot and blood dripped down her face

"You shouldn't have done that," Molly said softly "Spat in his face," she clarified

"Yeah well I think he more than deserves it," Jack justified " Who is he Molly?" he asked "I met him once before, but he looks different now,"

"He's a social chameleon," she told him "He can easily change his appearance to fit in with any social situation he wants to manipulate,"

"But this man…" Jack began but Molly cut him off with a shake of her head

"He's not a man," she told him "Well biologically he is but morally he's not,"

"How do you know him?"

"I've always known him," she told him "Ever since I was born. His age is hard to judge though. He could be thirty-five or even fifty-three; it's hard to tell with someone who changes their appearance so much,"

Jack nodded, trying to take what she was saying in. His head was still pounding and he still had the unpleasant acidic taste in his mouth. Molly was watching him carefully and stood up suddenly and moved over to a corner. He heard a scrabbling sound and when she returned a few moments later she was holding a bottle of water which she held out to him.

He reached out to take it but pulled back suddenly and looked at it suspiciously "What's in it, cyanide?" he asked sarcastically, remembering that last time he had drank something it had been spiked with sleeping tablets

"It's just water," she told him setting it down in front of him "Not much admittedly and it might be a little stagnant but it is just water,"

He picked up the bottle and unscrewed it, sniffing it cautiously. He took a guarded sip and after feeling no ill effects, drank further.

"Where did you find this?" he asked after finishing the water

"There's lots of stuff down here," she said "I must have left it when I was down here before,"

"Have you been here?" he asked

"Of my own freewill, yes," she nodded "The last time was when they arrested my Dad. I slept here that night," she told him and Jack nodded as he remembered when she had come to the Lyell Centre the morning after. He remembered that she stuttered of her sentence when asked where she stayed that night and realised that it finally made sense.

"I thought your dad didn't like you coming here?" he asked as he recalled something she said before

"He doesn't," she agreed "I don't like coming here either," she said "But this is the only other place is feel safe. Not because I enjoy his company, but because him company is familiar. He is, as much as I hate to admit it, my constant in a world which is always changing. Which is paradoxical I suppose given that he is always change yet at the same time, he has always been here,"

Jack tried to keep up with what she was saying but couldn't tell if she was making less sense than usual or whether it was because of his head injury but he was determined to get as much information as he could as possible. The man's threat had stayed in his head and Jack knew he had to formulate an escape plan. He was hoping that someone would raise the alarm that he was missing but Jack wasn't one for sitting around and waiting. He was determined to use this opportunity to his advantage.

"When we came to Devil's Cott before I heard a scrabbling by the door," he said "Was that him?" Molly nodded "Did you deliberately lead me to him?" Jack asked as he remembered the man telling him that was Molly was implicated in the murders, as well as her own admission.

"No," she shook her head "You were on his radar long before that. I admit I didn't realise at first so that is why I took that risk of taking you to Devil's Cott. I'm sorry Jack, I didn't realise how much you were embroiled in all of this. If I had had a little more foresight then maybe this could have been avoided,"

"How so?"

"I think he'd been planning this all along. I remember him mentioning a forensic scientist but I didn't realise that he meant you. Not even when I found your badge in the woods, the second time we met, did I even consider that he set it up,"

"He set all this up?" Jack said looking confused

"When you were walking in the woods, looking for that knife, how did you come to lose your ID badge?" she asked, cocking her head on one side

Jack paused for a moment, trying to remember "To be honest until you gave me back my badge I didn't even realise it was missing. I thought I felt something brush up against me but it was probably my imagination," he rationalised

"It wasn't," she shook her head "It was him. I thought there was something funny about that situation. Your badge was just lying there, it seemed so easy to find. In fact, it was too easy,"

"Was he the one responsible for trashing my flat?" Jack asked

Molly looked up, surprised "Someone trashed your flat?" she asked and Jack nodded "That was probably a warning from him," she explained "Like I said, I didn't realise that you were the meddling forensic scientist until you asked me that question about whether nursery rhymes are descriptive or prescriptive,"

"That note was left in my flat after it was trashed," Jack told her

"Definitely a warning then," she said more firmly "I wasn't fooled by your pub quiz story," she smiled at the memory "But before you told asked me that, I didn't realise he knew anything about you,"

"What's with the nursery rhymes?" he asked

"He likes playing games," she shrugged "If I knew anymore then I'd tell you but even I struggle to work out he mind games sometimes. Even when I do, it's often too late," she leant back into the wall, suddenly in frustration crying out in pain as she jarred her arm

"You need medical attention for that arm," he said watching as the colour drained from her face

"It's fine," she said waving off his concerns

"It's broken,"

"I've had worse," she assured him "Anyway it doesn't matter. Neither of us are going to get out of here alive," she said looking morose

Jack ignored her pessimism and continued "Well I'm not scared of him. I'm going to get us both out of here, I promise,"

She smiled weakly at him "That's why I took you to Devil's Cott in the first place. I thought you would be able to help,"

"But if I am going to be able to help you, then I need to know everything that's going on," Jack told her firmly

"I can't Jack," she shook her head "He'll kill me,"

"You said yourself that we're basically already dead," he reasoned but Molly didn't reply.

She had pulled her knees up to her chest and was cradling her arm. Her bloody nose had dried up and blood was smeared across her face, mixing in with her rapidly bruising face. Even under the mottled bruising, he could see her pallor and imagined the incredible amount of pain she must be in. He had seen fractures like hers occur before, during some of his MMA fights and knew they often required urgent medical attention.

"Do you think there's any wood lying around here?" he asked and she looked up at with slightly puzzled

"Maybe," she said "Why do you ask?"

"Your arm needs to be splinted," he said "I'd look myself but…" he gestured to the handcuffs

She nodded and gingerly got to her feet "What do you need?" she asked

"Some pieces of wood, or something firm," he commanded "Also, see if you can find some fabric as well,"

She grunted in response and he watched as she moved in and out of the shadows, searching for the items.

"Did he really mean what he said about you being involved in the murders?" he asked keeping up the conversation

"He's not wholly right and he's not wholly wrong," she said cryptically "But I'm not a good person Jack," she said sadly

"Then why did you try to get me to help?" he asked

"I want this to be over," she said "Too many people have been hurt in all of this. I thought you might be able to solve this mess. My estimation of your abilities was correct but I overestimated mine,"

"He called you his friend," Jack recalled

"He has a skewed conception of friendship," Molly laughed darkly "Will these do?" she said stepping back into the light holding some broken pieces of wood "I think they're the remains of a pile of firewood,"

"Perfect," he nodded

"And there's a sheet over here I think," she said moving back into the shadows "I used it to sleep under when I come down here sometimes," she said "Ah!" she exclaimed "Here it is,"

Molly moved back into the light precariously balancing the wood and sheet in one arm, whilst her injured arm hung limply at her side. She sat down close to him as he took the items from her.

Working as best he could with one arm still handcuffed to the pipe Jack grabbed the sheet in his mouth and tore a section of it into strips. He gestured for her to lean in towards him and picked up the pieces of wood

"This is going to hurt," he warned "But it is going to help," he reassured her

She nodded and gritted her teeth as Jack gently took her arm and started to reposition it. Although she bit down on her lip to muffle the cries of pain, Jack could still see the pain etched in her face. He murmured apologies and encouragements as he worked and began placing the pieces of wood under and around her arm, holding them in place with the strips of fabric. When her arm was secured by the wood, he turned back to the sheet and started pulling at it again,

"How come you're not handcuffed by the way?" he asked

"He sees me as less of a threat then you," she told him "You could easily overpower him so I suppose he had to make sure that didn't happen, hence the handcuffs,"

"But surely he's worried about you telling me everything that happened?"

"We're not going to get out of this alive Jack;" she said "He'll make sure of that. He hasn't killed us yet because that's not his style. He likes playing games and he's not even begun,"

Jack once more ignored her words and started to work on her arm once more. He had managed to work the fabric into a triangular shape and set about nestling her arm in it to make a sling. Once more she winced at the movement but Jack could see that his splint had started to lessen the pain once more.

As he finished tying the makeshift sling back in place, he sat back to admire his handiwork "There," he said looking satisfied at the job "That should hold until we can get you to a hospital. The splint should help with the pain but try and keep it as still as you can. Until we get out of here…"

"We're not going to get out of here," she muttered

"…And to a Doctor, there's not much more I can do," he finished "So I've helped you," Jack said "How about you help me?"

Molly sighed reluctantly and rested her head back against the wall. The splint seemed to be holding well and she'd regained some colour back in her face.

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything," he said "Start from the beginning and tell me everything,"


	24. Dropping Off the Face of the Earth

**Chapter 24: Dropping off the Face of the Earth **

"Do you think Jack's okay?" Nikki mused as she sat down opposite Clarissa, passing her a coffee mug

"Jack's never okay," Clarissa shrugged accepting the drink gratefully. It was a well-known fact that caffeine was fuel for scientists "

"I tried to call him last night but I only got his voicemail. I suppose he's sulking. How long do his sulks last exactly?"

"Eons," Clarissa shook her head "It's like the male version of PMS with him sometimes," she said and Nikki chuckled "Still, it is odd. I tried to reach him last night and only got voicemail as well. When I tried his mobile this morning it wasn't connecting,"

"Out of battery?" Nikki suggested "Did you try his landline?"

Clarissa nodded "Just got the answer-phone. There's something not quite right about this Nikki,"

"How do you mean?"

"Jack's sulks are legendary and I've had the silent treatment from him before. But he always lets me know that he's okay. Always without fail,"

"Maybe he's as annoyed with you as he is with me," Nikki said "Because he still holds it against me, doesn't he?"

"Do you mean the suspension?"

"I mean blaming him for what happened in Afghanistan," Nikki sighed "I assume he told you,"

Clarissa nodded "He mentioned it. You were upset Nikki and I think he understands that both when it happened and even now. We all say things we regret in the heat of the moment. Goodness knows Jack is the living embodiment of that,"

"I still feel like Afghanistan is driving a wedge between us all and the case hasn't helped one bit," Nikki said taking a sip of her coffee "I didn't want to suspend him you know,"

"I know. But even you have to admit Jack's been getting overinvolved in all of this and he has been sailing very close to the wind in regards to procedure,"

"I think I'm the living embodiment of that as well," Nikki said with a small smile, reminiscing on how many times she had gotten into scrapes as a result of bending procedures

"Still, there's something that doesn't sit right with me," Clarissa told her colleague "He was so agitated yesterday and I hate it when Jack's like that. He's too unpredictable and given that we seem unable to contact him, I'm getting worried,"

"If he doesn't make contact by midday then I think I might drop in on him this afternoon. I've got a meeting with the coroner later and his flat is not too far from my route. Even if he tells me to sod off then at least we know he's okay," Nikki said "I share your feelings. There's something not right about all of this. Jack or this case,"

…

At noon there was no word for Jack. Nikki gave him some extra time to account for his abysmal time-keeping skills but by one o'clock there was still no word. She had sat through the exceedingly dull meeting with the coroner discussing the Lyell's Centre annual budget (too many bills, not enough money,) but still didn't feel her phone buzz.

Driving back the centre she took a detour, letting her satnav guide her to Jack's address. She hadn't actually been there before. She'd had to lift his address from his personnel file and rely on her temperamental satnav instead. Making her way up to a block of flats, she mused on how different it was to her own home. Her block of flats was elegant, whereas Jack's seemed to be all about practicality. The walls and floor of the building were a practical shade of grey, presumably to hide any dirt. Cheap spotlights hung overhead, giving enough illumination but cheap enough to keep the costs down. She walked down the corridor, passing doors, all uniform in colour and structure until she reached Jack's.

Knocking on the door, she rocked back on her heels slightly waiting for an answer. She didn't really expect one so she knocked a bit harder and called out

"Jack," she said "It's Nikki. I just want to know if you're alright. Can you come to the door? Please?"

Still she was met with silence. If this was a sulk then it was a mighty big one indeed. Her knuckles were starting to get sore from banging on the door and she was just about to leave when a voice called out to her.

"He's not in love," Nikki turned to see a woman from the next flat emerge from her doorway

"Sorry?"

"He's not in," the woman repeated "So if you're another one of his disgruntled girlfriends, you best be looking for him elsewhere,"

Nikki looked at the woman with a flicker of amusement on her face "I'm not his girlfriend, I'm a colleague," she corrected "I was just checking up on him. Actually," she said after a moment's thought "I was wondering if you could help me?"

….

"His neighbour said he didn't come home last night and she hasn't seen him since he left for work yesterday morning," Nikki told Clarissa with a frown on her face as she started to consider all the things that might have happened to him

"I'm going to call round the hospitals," Clarissa said dragging Nikki out of her thoughts "I seem to recall Jack telling me that he had a MMA fight pencilled in for last night," she said

"You've done this before," Nikki said raising an eyebrow as Clarissa started to write down a list of local hospitals

"Jack's not as good a fighter as he likes to think he is," Clarissa said sounding exasperated as she picked up the phone.

…

The afternoon began to draw to a close and the evening began to invade the Lyell Centre. Colleagues packed up their things, calling their goodbyes to as they left, until only Nikki and Clarissa remained.

"No joy with the hospitals then?" Nikki asked and Clarissa shook her head

"No one matching his name or description was admitted last night," Clarissa said and Nikki could see the worry etched in her face "Nikki, I think-"

"-that we'd better call the police?" Nikki finished for her and Clarissa nodded "I agree," she said picking up the phone and punching in a few numbers. She held the phone to her ear, listening for the time before eventually speaking "Police please," she said "I need to report a missing person,"

…

"Can you give me a brief description of Mr Hodgson," a bored sounding police officer asked the two scientists. He had turned up an hour after Nikki reported Jack missing and so far didn't seem to be taking their concerns very seriously. Nikki wondered whether news of his clash with DI Harris had spread round the constabulary or whether Jack's reputation preceded him.

"He's about 6 foot four, muscular build, white with short dark brown hair. He was wearing dark blue jeans, a dark green t-shirt and a dark brown leather jacket when we last saw him," Clarissa supplied

"Had anything happened to upset him recently?"

"He'd recently been suspended from work," Nikki reluctantly supplied "Pending a an enquiry,"

"Into his conduct with the police, I hear," the officer nodded and Nikki grimaced as her previous suspicions were shown to be correct

"We've been unable to get in contact with him since," Clarissa continued "We left voicemails for him but now his phone is not connecting at all when you dial the number. We've rung around the hospitals and checked with the neighbours but no one has seen him,"

"Does he drive at all?"

"Yes," Nikki nodded "A blue land-rover. It's quite battered though," she said as she reeled off the registration number

"Well your friend has probably just got pissed and is lying in the gutter somewhere;" the officer shrugged "But I'll take a look all the same," he groped in his pocket and pulled out a card "Here are my details if you need to contact me" he said "Either professionally or personally," he added flirtatiously and Nikki grimaced in response

"Thanks," she said dutifully taking the card from him, although muttering the word 'pervert' under her breath as he left.

"Why do I get the impression that the police aren't going to be of much help," Clarissa sighed

"Because this is Jack that we're dealing with," Nikki smiled softly "And he doesn't like to make things easy. We'll find him though," she said noticing the concern on Clarissa's face "Even if we have to do most of the investigating ourselves. He's out there somewhere; people don't just drop off the face of the earth"

…

Jack sat very still in the gloom as he tried to listen for any external noise. Conversation had lapsed and ceased when Molly had drifted off into a fitful sleep. Jack was amazed that she could even sleep at a time like this. His body was alert and tense, especially now the effect of the sleeping pills had worn off. Sleep seemed practically impossible for him, yet the woman in front of him had slipped quite easily into her slumber.

But listen as he might, he couldn't hear anything. No sound of traffic. No sound of human voice. Not even sounds of wildlife. He tried to recall the route he had taken with Molly when he first visited Devil's Cott and remembered, with a sinking feeling, just how deep into the woods the building was located.

It was almost the equivalent of dropping off the face of the earth.


	25. Festering Wounds

**Chapter 25: Festering Wounds **

"I think it must be late afternoon by now," Molly said yawned, the sleepiness still thick in her voice

Molly had awoken moments before and Jack had pounced on her for more information as soon as she was able to string a coherent sentence together. Before she had fallen asleep, she had started to fulfil Jack's request for information.

"Where was I?" she murmured with a frown on her face "Oh yes!" she suddenly exclaimed "I remember now. I was telling you about the first time I met him,"

Jack nodded silently as he listened to Molly speak. His mind was whirring with thoughts and plans but the pain in his head still punctuated those thoughts.

"My parents didn't always live in the countryside. They used to both live in London, in the city, but I don't think they ever really settled there. They are not city folk really, their hearts yearned for the wide open green spaces,"

"So they moved here then?" Jack asked and Molly nodded

"Not long after they were married. I suppose they didn't really have much of a choice. They didn't like the city and felt even more unwelcome there after their marriage. I told you before that my mother's side of the family disapproved of their relationship. Anyway, they set up home here and not long after that I was born. Dad was working as a freelance journalist then so spent long hours away from home,"

"Didn't your mother get lonely?" Jack frowned

Molly shook her head "She was quite content with her own company. She might have preferred her husbands of course. But even when the people we love aren't physically present, they never really leave our hearts do they? Still, she did spend lots of her time alone up at our house or wandering in the woodland and she'd take me with her as she travelled. That's when I first met him,"

"I was still a very little girl so my memory is hazy but I recall we were walking by the stream, not too far from where I met you in the woods, and there he was. We'd stopped and were playing and laughing and that's when I saw him. On the other side of the stream, tucked away into the shadows, he was just watching us. Or rather watching _her_: my mother,"

"So he was stalking her?"

Molly wrinkled her nose "Stalking is a bit of a strong word. I still don't know whether he came across us in the woods that day by mere coincidence or whether it was something more planned out but either way it was an ill-fated encounter,"

"How so?"

"He never left her alone after that. He was always there, always watching, trailing our footsteps. He was infatuated with her, I think, from the moment he saw her in the woods,"

"I guess your dad wasn't too happy about that?" Jack asked and Molly shook her head

"My mother told him of course, when Dad returned to our house. But she wasn't too scared by the whole thing. I think she felt sorry for him. She would try and engage with him in friendly conversation for she often told me she sensed a kind of loneliness about him. Maybe that's why he was attracted to her; he assumed she was lonely like him. That was a mistake, a misjudgement. Being alone did not consume my mother in the way that it consumed him,"

"I didn't put him down as the lonely type," Jack said recalling the encounter with his captor

"That aspect of him has long since passed," Molly told him "Like I said, it consumed him. What started off as a harmless emotion, turned into something far more sinister. When you're cut off and out of society it leaves a wound. Sometimes that wound can heal, like it did with my mother and the isolation and loneliness does not touch one deeply. But in his case, the wound began to fester and turn rotten,"

"I can't believe he was harmless before all that though,"

"Oh I never said that," Molly corrected "He was never really harmless or purely good. None of us are. But the hatred and anger hadn't touched him too deeply then. It was waiting there, festering away; it just needed an outlet,"

"The death of your mother," Jack guessed and Molly nodded sadly

…

"Do know what Jack was working on before he left the lab yesterday?" Nikki asked Clarissa

The two of them had decided to go over Jack's last movements in an attempt to glean any information concerning his whereabouts. They had heard no word from the police and had set about their own investigations instead.

"He was running some fingerprints against the system I think," Clarissa said flicking through the files Jack had left her

"From what?"

"A photo frame," Clarissa said trying to decipher Jack's messing handwriting "He'd gone back to the crime scene the previous day. I'd recommend that course of action to him. I thought it might help him get a fresh perspective to at least give him time to cool off,"

"From what?"

Clarissa sighed "I might as well tell you now," she said "DI Harris called Jack and asked him to sit in on Molly William's interview.

"She did what?" Nikki exclaimed

"I think it was a misguided attempt to get Molly to open up. I don't think that it went too well though,"

"That would explain his bad mood when he came back," Nikki said recalling Jack's frankly odd behaviour when he had returned from his abnormally long lunch break

"Jack seemed to think that DI Harris had got tunnel vision in relation to this case. He felt that she had made him come along to back up her half-baked theories. She seemed to be forcing the facts even though there was little evidence to back them up and Jack called her out on it,"

"That probably explains the complaint she made against him," Nikki nodded "So he went back to the crime scene for a fresh look and I suppose he must have found something,"

"This photo frame," Clarissa said producing a plastic bag with the item inside

Nikki pulled on a pair of gloves and emptied the bag of its contents. The photo frame was cheap and looked slightly worn down with age but still well preserved. It held a slightly out-of-focus photo of a beaming young woman who seemed quite familiar to Nikki,"

"Who is this?" Nikki frowned passing the frame over to Clarissa who once more peered again at Jack's notes

"Isabella Williams," she said "Molly's mother,"

…

"I told you before about how she died?" Molly cocked her head on one side

"You said she died very suddenly and no one was able to establish a cause of death," Jack struggled to recall her words but Molly's nodding showed him to have recalled the information correctly

"She went to bed one evening alive and was dead by the next morning. My dad found her. He'd tried to wake her up the next morning but she was stone cold,"

"But the police suspected him?"

"He was their only suspect," Molly said "They'd been seen in public having a row that evening and the police assumed he's murdered her because of that,"

"What were they rowing about?"

Molly shrugged "I think it was just a bog-standard domestic. Whilst their marriage was generally happy, it did have its ups and down. After all, 'Happily ever after' only exists in fairy tales,"

"But no cause of death?"

Molly shook her head "I've read the post-mortem reports. They put forward theories but coroner never took them up when it came to the inquest,"

"But your dad had different ideas?"

"He believed it was murder, like the police, but could never prove it. Dad always believed that she was murdered by her 'stalker' as Dad called him,"

"Did he have proof?"

"No," Molly said shortly "Just a strong inclination. He became consumed by the desire to prove his theories correct. Not just to clear his name but to find some closure. So he quit his job as a freelance journalist and started to work on his theories. The more he researched into such conspiracy theories the more he was able to construct some sort of meaning. I've told you before, that truth and meaning are not always synonymous,"

…

"Isabella Williams," Nikki said pulling up the post-mortem report on her computer "Female, aged 32. Found dead in bed at home. Initial investigations put time of death sometime during the night. There were no signs of a struggle and she was fully clothed when found,"

"What did the post-mortem bring to light?" Clarissa asked looking up from Jack's notes

"Very little," Nikki scanned the screen "Cause of death was not able to be determined. The coroner ordered another post-mortem but still no cause of death. The report here speculates it could have been something to do with her heart but there's no evidence to back it up,"

"Isn't that what Jonathan Williams came to speak to you about?"

Nikki nodded "He wanted me to go over the evidence. He was convinced that her death wasn't due to natural causes but that she was murdered. I briefly scanned the report but given there was nothing to suggest murder or foul play in the post-mortem there was little I could do. I felt he was clutching at straws and just desperate to find any explanation or meaning for the death,"

"But you couldn't give him one?"

Nikki shook her head "The best I could do was a cup of tea and a bit of sympathy and you recall how that turned out," she said and Clarissa nodded as she remembered Jonathan shouting at Nikki despite her attempts to placate him

"Still, there is something odd about this whole case," Nikki continued "Unable to find cause of death after three post-mortems,"

"Were there any suspects?"

"I think Jonathan was suspected at first but there was no evidence of it being murder. He was arrested though," Nikki said scanning the details on the screen

"I suppose they must have had some grounds to arrest him in the first place. Who was the arresting officer?"

Nikki's eyes widened as she read from the screen "PC Rachel Harris," Nikki said "Or rather now she's known as DI Harris,"

…

"Do you think your mother was murdered?" Jack asked

Molly paused before answering "I don't know," she said finally "And to be honest I don't think it would change anything even if I did. It won't bring her back, it change the fact I had to grow up without her and it won't make that lonely feeling go away either,"

"Did you ever speak with your dad about her?" He asked "Help keep the memory alive,"

"Only sometimes," Molly said "And only then in relation to his conspiracy theories. I think it was too painful for him. The loneliness he felt after her death, consumed him. It too began to fester away inside of him and he turned to drink as a way of dealing with it,"

"I'm sorry Molly," Jack said softly

She shook her head "He's not a bad person. Like I said before, no one is completely harmless or completely good. We're a complex mix of both. It's just that some wounds never heal. So we just carried on together. He busied himself in his work and soon the Underground magazine was born. He branched out his conspiracy theories from murder to aliens to ley lines. People joined up, writing article for him, and our circle expanded,"

"But then things began to change. He began to believe that we were getting closer to discovering the truth. He was vague about it at first, seemingly quite unsure, but then he rapidly became more and more certain. Of course, that's when it all began,"

"What did?"

"The murders,"

**Author's Note: Thanks for the Reviews**


	26. The Famous Five

**Chapter 26: The Famous Five**

Jack sat intently listening to Molly in the gloom as she started to explain her ominous comment. The handcuffs were starting to dig into his wrist now and he fought to distract himself from the stinging sensation. His head was still pounding but the pain had subsided somewhat and continued to do so as long as he sat still. As such, he was content to sit and listen to Molly as she spoke, occasionally interjecting with comments and questions as events began to unravel themselves to him.

"Why?" he asked as she paused in her explanation

Molly laughed softly "If I knew that I wouldn't be here. Like I said, I can only speculate. Still, if I'd been more on the ball then maybe some of this could have been avoided,"

"He is the murderer then?" Jack asked and Molly nodded "But your prints are on the knife. You fit the killer's profile,"

"I know," she nodded again "I'll try and explain the best that I can, although I'm still trying to work things out myself,"

Molly cleared her throat and resumed her explanation "Alan Jones was the first victim, as I'm sure you worked out. He's the one you found in the car park of the Slug and Pellet," she said and Jack nodded "At that point I had no idea that he had been murdered or that our captor was capable of this. Like everyone else, I just assumed it was a pub brawl,"

"So did I at first," Jack said recalling the initial investigation "When did your opinion change?"

"Probably at the same time as yours: when the second murder occurred. People in the village had been gossiping about Alan's death. Now, I'm not normally one for gossip but I couldn't help but listen to it. They were suspicious of Alan, he didn't really live too nearby and of course the company he kept, my father that is, was seen as odd. But people knew something was wrong. The village is normally very sleepy and nothing of interest ever really happens. Then two deaths in a short space of time occur. People start to talk," she shrugged

"Murder was mentioned several times, of course with my father as the culprit," she sighed "But I knew that wasn't true. Yet something wasn't sitting right with me. Dad, Alan and Richard had been holding hushed conversations weeks before Alan's death. They would always stop talking when I entered the room but I theorised they were onto something big. That and the fact Dad had a renewed interest in mum's death again worried me,"

"Hence why you were at the Lyell Centre," Jack said remembering when he had first met Molly

She nodded "Then when Alan died, my suspicions grew. I didn't link how these things appeared to be connected. I couldn't go to the police for it was just a hunch. Anyway a short time later I was working in the Slug and Pellet when Richard Carter came in for a drink. You'll recall his name as being the next murder victim. He said he was supposed to e meeting my dad there but he hadn't shown up. Well, my curiosity got the better of me and I tried to wile some information about the hushed conversations out of him. I couldn't get much out of him, only that it was related to my mother's death, as I suspected, and that he believed Alan had been murdered,"

"I couldn't carry on my conversation with him at that point as the pub was busy with many customers but I could see him sitting in the corner frantically working away. With the busy bar, I started to forget my concerns until I was asked to go and change the barrel. When I went down to the cellar, I saw a man lurking by the barrels. It was too dark to make him out and He fled as soon as he saw me. I was about to go after him but was called back to the bar. I suppose I just let the thought sip from my mind after that"

"Richard was still frantically working when I got back to the bar but was also looking increasingly agitated. I spoke to him and he told me of his concerns that my father hadn't shown up yet. They supposedly arranged to meet that night and Richard stressed how important it was to speak to him that night,"

"I suggested he call my Dad and leant him my phone. I don't know the contents of the call but dad told me later that he had never arranged to meet Richard that night,"

"It was a trap?" Jack asked

"Quite possibly," Molly nodded "Of course, I didn't realise this until too late. Richard took of suddenly after the call and then the bell rang for last orders. But something felt wrong. I didn't put the pieces together at first but when I cleared Richard's glass away I saw a substance in the bottom of it. Richard had seemed so agitated and was behaving out of character that I wanted to check to see if he was alright,"

"I hurried out after him and tried to found out the direction he was heading for. It was dark and the heavy rain didn't really help the visibility but I saw him halfway up the road, on the edge of the woodland. He was swaying on the spot and looked out of it. He was sweating profusely and rambling about needing to speak to my father about a new development. I was so focused on Richard that I didn't see the figure approach. He was there Jack, our captor, was the man in the cellar and the man now approaching Richard and I,"

"I could see the knife in his hand and tried to warn Richard but he just wouldn't respond. He was just flailing and shouting madly. I'm not quite sure how it happened but someone's elbow caught me square in the face and knocked me out cold. When I came to I saw Richard's body usy lying there,"

"Was he dead?" Jack asked and Molly nodded

"I didn't know what to do, my head was pounding and my glasses had been knocked off my face. I eventually found them in the mud but one of the lenses must have slipped out. All I could think to do was hurry back home to tell Dad,"

"Well that would explain why your footprint and glasses lens were at the scene," Jack told her "The belladonna in the victim's drink would also explain the unusual behaviour," he explained "So you told your dad?"

Molly nodded "And he hurried off down the lane," she said "But by the time he'd got there the police had already arrived on the scene. He did try and explain to them but I think the police were put off by his talk of ley lines and aliens," she shrugged "So I decided we needed more evidence. The next day I was heading down to Devil's Cott to find our captor when I stumbled across your pass and then you. I assumed you had been assigned the case and already found you to be remarkably perceptive. You already guessed my bruises weren't from falling but rather they were inflicted by someone. That gave me hope that you could maybe; somehow find the evidence that we needed,"

"However I began to think my trust in you had been misguided when they arrested my Dad after he threatened DI Harris. I knew, as well did he, that he would be a suspect and I thought that you had followed that ridiculous line of enquiry. But then I saw the photographs of the belladonna. Already you had worked out that someone had slipped something into Richard's drink. You were onto evidence that I couldn't prove, as I stupidly left Richard's glass at the bar and it was washed away,"

"At the police station, your dad whispered something to you about a breakthrough," Jack said "What did he mean?"

"That he was onto something. He believed that Mum, Alan and Richard's deaths were all related and believed he was close to finding a breakthrough. He was reassuring me of that and promising that it would soon be over. He also told me that I had to go down to Devil's Cott once more and try and find more evidence whilst he was away dealing with the police,"

"I guess you had the same idea because I saw you the very next day hanging around by the woodland. You had been very perceptive once more and picked up on the belladonna and Devil's Cott. I felt you were more qualified to uncover evidence than I was so I took you with me. I was reluctant to I admit because it's dangerous. I couldn't rule out the possibility that he would be there but I took the risk,"

"I heard someone scrabbling at the door," Jack said remembering "Was that him?"

Molly nodded and blew out her cheeks "You have no idea how close you came to meeting him that day. As painful as tripping over your case was, it seemed to be something of a good fortune for you as we got away before he could come out,"

"You told me no one lived at Devil's Cott,"

"I lied," she said "I'm not a wholly good person as you're about to understand. After you dropped me back home I explained to Dad who you were and the possibility that ou could help us. Of course, he wasn't convinced as he no longer trusts so deeply in science as he did before mum's death. Amway, other things were on his mind as you saw from his argument with George Francis, the landlord of the Slug and Pellet. Anyway, Dad was in no mood to talk so I left him and headed down to the Slug and Pellet for another shift,"

"George had been drinking when I came on shift. He often made quips about my Dad but he was angry and drunk and so the comments were more vile than usual. He kept ranting on and on about how he was going to sue my Dad for slander and how the idea of anyone being poisoned was absurd. Eventually, I had enough and so skulked off down to the cellars under the pretence of changing the barrel,"

"Once more he was there, skulking in the shadows but he didn't flee this time. He just sat there watching me like he did the first time I met him when out with my mother. He brought her into the conversation by stating how much I look like her. He kept talking about her and I listened. Dad never really speaks of mum and my memories of her are quite hazy and so it was nice to hear someone talk about her. She seemed so much closer when he spoke about her,"

"Our conversation was interrupted by George's drunken bawling's from the pub above. He must have seen the look of distaste of my face because conversation turned to him next. He told me he knew about George and all his mean comments. About how George had tipped off DI Harris about my Dad and that was the reason she came found to investigate him. My feelings of disgust increased at that point and so when he suggested that he could help me put a stop to this, well it seemed a pleasant offer,"

"He produced some belladonna from his pocket which confirmed I was right about Richard's poisoning. He told me if I went and distracted George for a short amount of time then he could slip something in George's drink to calm him down and we could go back to discussing my mother. I was sceptical at first for I am well aware of the effects of belladonna and I knew, although I couldn't prove it, that he had already murdered too people but he was being so nice and charming to me,"

"All that talk of my mother was both a good thing and a bad thing. I wanted to talk about her more than anything to bring her back a little closer to the land of the living in whatever way I could. I was unsure but when I heard George make a lewd comment about her, I changed my mind,"

"You agreed?" Jack asked and Molly nodded slowly

"He told me to distract George and to meet him at Devil's Cott the next day. I did go and distract George by dropping a glass on the floor. You know what happened after that: George ends up dead and I end up being deceived. I found out about his death from the village gossips and immediately confronted the man at Devil's Cott. He simply sneered at me and told me that it was little more than George deserved. I told him I would go to the police but he pointed out I was now complicit in the murder and if he went down so would I .That would leave Dad on his own with no one to look after him,"

"Molly…" Jack began

"Don't." she shook her head "I know what I did was terrible and I already told you I'm far from being innocent in all of this. I'm paying for it now Jack, with the ultimate price: my life. An eye for an eye as the old saying goes. I did try to make amends. I told him I wouldn't go to the police as long as he stopped killing people"

"He readily agreed, too readily now that I come to think of it. He told me he had other things on his mind. Something to do with a scientist spoiling his fun,"

"I guess that was me," Jack said and Molly nodded

"Although I must admit I didn't immediately relate your name with his description which was really rather vague. It wasn't until I bumped into you outside the shop that I put the pieces in place. The note he left you was a warning and although you didn't seem scared but it, I was. He was onto you by that point. He knew I had led you to Devil's Cott and given you a lead in your investigations. I saw you had the knives, the murder weapons, and assumed you were getting even closer to unravelling this. So although I promised not to go to the police, I never promised to stop fraternizing with forensic scientists," she said wryly

"I was worried though so I started to check up on you. One day I saw you storm out of the Lyell Centre deep in thought. You looked worried and angry and that concerned me. I followed you to make sure that you were okay. I half assumed that he'd threatened you again and that was the cause of your upset. I thought I was being discreet but you sensed my presence and-"

"-elbowed you in the face," Jack winced "Accidently of course," he added and Molly smiled weakly

"Accidently," she agreed

"He didn't come after me that day," Jack told her "It was just a tough day at the office that's all,"

"That I gathered," she said "And after that I was relieved. I thought that given you were safe that his note was just a threat. After all I assumed he was sticking to his side of the bargain about not killing,"

"Except that didn't work," Jack said "DC Roberts was the next victim,"

"I swear I wasn't involved in that Jack," she said earnestly "He gave no indication that police officer would be the next victim. I'm not sure it was even planned but rather just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I confronted him when I found out. I arranged to meet him in the woods late at night. I threatened to break my silence and go to the police and that was something he hadn't expected. However, he just laughed in my face and told me I had more to lose than I realised. I was defiant and that was my mistake,"

"Up until this point he had never hurt me. I think I resembled my mother too much and that stayed his hand. However, that defiance reminded him too much of my Dad and it put his plans at risk and so I saw the other side of him. He hated my Dad you see. He loved my mother but couls never be with her because her heart was with someone else,"

"He was the one that put you in hospital?" Jack asked and Molly nodded

"Well, I assume so," she said "My memories are hazy but at a guess I would say that he dragged me home and left me on the floor. Of course, he incriminated my father in all of this by leaving my blood on him to make him look like the perpetrator. He really hates my dad…" he sentence trailed off and she sighed

"I got another note from him," Jack told her and her head shot up

"When?"

"When I came to see you in hospital," he told her "It was left on my window screen,"

"What did it say?"

"Just more mumbo-jumbo nursery rhyme crap," he shrugged

"It was another warning," she sighed "One that you should have heeded. He had probably been keeping tabs on you. He was concerned that you were getting too close to the truth. He'd pretty much fooled the police into believing it was my Dad and there was little forensic evidence to go on. But you suspected otherwise, in the face of everything else. Your perceptiveness was going to ruin his fun,"

"So that's why he kidnapped me?"

"Too far ahead Jack," she told him "You were a thorn in his side but not the immediate problem. He'd already bought my silence again by putting me in hospital but my Dad was still rather vocal and that was a problem. I knew I was out of my depth and called my Dad from hospital and told him everything I knew. Dad told me he'd been released on bail and that he was going to confront him that evening,"

"That was my other big mistake. I shouldn't have told anyone, I should have kept silent. I set Dad up as the next victim. When I got home from the hospital everything was silent and so I went to sleep. When I awoke it was dark and I crept downstairs to look for my Dad. I was sure I felt something in the darkness behind me but carried on. When I found Dad's body in the study, I knew my suspicions had been right,"

"The thing is," Jack told her "I don't understand how your prints were on the knives,"

"I suppose I don't need to tell you that it was a set up," she said "He stole those knives from the village supermarket and swapped them with the set we use in the pub kitchen,"

"How come only your prints are on them and not anyone else's?"

"He probably wiped everyone else's" she shrgged "He's clever Jack," she offered as a way of an explanation

"But why?" he asked and then sighed "Yeah I know," he held up his hands "Truth and meaning, not the same,"

"You're learning," she smiled weakly "Though a little too late. After Dad died I knew the police would turn their suspicions on me. I didn't know about the knives until the interview but I knew DI Harris was leading the case and she had a long history with my family. She worked on the investigation into my mother's death and I know she hated the fact she'd couldn't pin it on my Dad,"

"Tunnel vision," Jack mused "That's been plaguing this investigation as well,"

"That's what he wanted," Molly said grimly "Anyway you know the next bit, I get arrested and you come to my interview. Like you said in the interview, they had little to pin on me. Our captor might be very smart but even he can't make someone present at the scene when they weren't there. Also, thanks to Dad's countless libel cases we have pretty good lawyers to help us and so I got bail,"

"When I released I immediately headed to Devil's Cott to meet him. He was angry about something. He'd met you earlier in the day up at my house. Apparently you exploited one weakness of his,"

"The photo frame!" Jack exclaimed "So I was right," he said and she nodded

"That brought you to the forefront of his attention. I hadn't stuck to my side of the bargain and you weren't heeding his warnings. So the perpetual thorn in his side had to be removed," she said

"In the form of drugging and beating me," he frowned

"Well it's better than drugging and stabbing you," she reasoned "Anyway, we're both paying the price now for my incompetence. I told you Jack that I wasn't innocent in all of this. It was bad enough all those people died let alone an innocent person like you being dragged into all of this. You didn't ask for any of this. You were just the unlucky person assigned to this job. Like you told me, it's your job to find out the truth. It looks like curiosity is going to kill this particular cat and for that I'm sorry" she said quietly and fell into silence

The pair sat brooding for a while as Jack mentally compiled everything she had told him. Things were staring to come together now but that seemed the least of his worries at the present time. He shifted uncomfortably on the ground and cast his gaze back to Molly,"

"How's your arm?" he asked noticing she hadn't expressed any discomfort in a while

"Fine," she said "I can't even feel it anymore,"

Jack was concerned at this revelation but sure enough when he squeezed her fingers, he found them cold to the touch.

"We need to get out of here," he told her

"Even after what I just told you," she asked him

"My job is just to collect evidence, not to pass judgement," Jack told her "I admit you're in one hell of a mess but right now that's also my mess. We need to get out of here soon and after that when we're safe then we can have a discussion about ethics okay?"

"I've listened to you Molly," he said "Now you need to listen very carefully to me,"


End file.
